In the second week of August, 110 children from remote mining communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo were honoured before a gathering of their friends and family for completing their remedial primary education programme, and passing state exams. The students, who were all enrolled in the Diamond Development Initiative’s (DDI) mobile schooling programme, subsequently also participated in their local graduation ceremony.

“The goal of the programme is to provide access to remedial education to children in diamond mining communities in order to prevent them from working in the mines and allow them the opportunity to reintegrate the formal schooling system,” DDI explained. “The two-year curriculum provides children the opportunity to acquire essential literacy and numeracy skills and grade-level general knowledge with the goal of passing the national exam.”

DDI has been operating a total of four mobile schools with six classrooms, for a total of 121 students. The schools are sponsored by Brilliant Earth (one school in Kasaï Occidental), Diamond Empowerment Fund (one school in Kasaï Occidental) and Signet Jewelers (two schools in Kasaï Oriental).

What is particularly creditworthy is that all students who sat for the exams, passed.   “The other 11 students were unable to sit the exams because of family mobility and local security issues,” DDI said.

Mpoyi Nsanza, one of the proud graduates, had dropped out of the school education system  at the age of 10 , when her family moved to the mining community of Tshifumba. As there was no school in the village, she accompanied her father to the diamond mine to work.  Till two years later, she was selected for the mobile school.

“At the beginning of the programme it was hard for me to adapt because it was intense, but I was motivated by the meals that were offered twice a day and I was afraid of the mining work because it was much harder than attending school,” said the young girl candidly.

“After 18 months of remedial training, Nsanza passed the state exams as best female student,” DDI announced. Now, she says she has two wishes: to become a mining engineer, and for education to be available to all the other children in her community.

Dorothée Gizenga, Executive Director of DDI, echoing the sentiment said: “DDI has responded to a pressing need, but does not have the resources to meet all the schooling requirements in artisanal mining communities. All children, from elementary and secondary levels, should be in school.”

DDI is currently working towards engaging local and international partners in the initiative; and seeks a commitment from local and national governments of diamond mining countries to provide all children in mining communities with basic education.

Omer Lukamba, the traditional chief of Tshifumba, commented: “We were happy when DDI came to our village to offer remedial education, because there was no school here before. With these results, we are even happier because our kids have made us proud.”