Status of Education

The UN Millennium Development Goals for 2015 have achieved only a partial success
in their fulfillment. The goals of increasing gender equality, increasing attendance in primary
school, combating diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/AIDS, and developing a global
partnership for growth have all improved and are on track. However, that leaves fifty percent of
the goals off track, with little to no improvement. These lagging goals include eradicating
hunger, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and ensuring environmental
sustainability.
The goal of eradicating hunger is dependent on reducing poverty. This would require
cooperation between all members of the population and the government to implement. Because
of inequality between men and women, they are not yet able to work together effectively to
reduce poverty. Many people live on less than $1.25 per day.(Figure 1) Groups that support the
empowerment of women have formed and are making progress in that direction.


Figure 1. Retrieved from
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/mdg_goals/mdg1/. This graph
compares poverty levels in 1990 to 2010. The graph shows that there has been little difference in
the past 2 decades.

However, other factors have an impact along with gender parity. There have been severe
weather events that have caused food shortages, destroyed some agricultural assets, and
eliminated other types of livelihoods. This led to underweight children, uncertain and unreliable
daily food consumption, and
widespread hunger.
Maternal Health is irrevocably linked to all the other goals that are attached to the UN
Millennium Development plan. Almost 300,000 women died globally in 2013 from causes
related to pregnancy and childbirth. (United Nations Development Programme, 2014) This
number is caused by the lack of sex education and the poverty that rules this part of Africa. The
mothers are usually young, malnourished, with no health care professionals to offer prenatal
care, or to assist with the birthing process and the aftercare that follows. Children of the sub-
Sahara are definitely better off than they were in 1990, because the rate of mortality has been
almost cut in half. (United Nations Development Programme, 2014) Though there is
improvement in this area, the sub-Sahara still ranks highest in infant mortality and maternal
mortality, as is seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Retrieved from gapminder.com, this is a map that compares the child mortality rate of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo to other countries around the world.

The percentage of girls attending primary school has risen steadily the past several years.
There are still barriers holding back women, but there is notable progress with most now able to
finish primary school. Although progress was strong in the beginning, just getting children in
general to attend school has weakened as the years have worn on. (Figure 3) With all the wars
and conflicts, students are dropping out of school to help out their family at home in order to
survive. The children are more likely to finish primary school before dropping out, however. As I
mentioned earlier, there is still improvement though it is not as extreme as we would like it to be,
after all, Three out of four children now go to school, a 23 per cent increase over 2000 with near
parity for girls and boys. (The United Nations, 2010)


Figure 3. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/country/congo-dem-rep/. This graph shows
how primary school enrollment in the DR of the Congo has increased dramatically and that the
reason it is over 100% is because some students are older or younger than the age group of
students being studied.
Between Malaria, Ebola and HIV/AIDS, Africa is fighting an ongoing battle with disease.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa ranks second in the number of cases of
these infections, but there has been significant improvement that has cut the number of cases in
half from 2001 to 2012. (United Nations Development Programme, 2014) Africa has halted the
spread of IV/AIDS, but outbreaks of other diseases still occur. People living in poverty have
poor health and weakened immunity to even everyday diseases such as the common cold.
The issue of land sustainability has made little progress. Severe weather, devastating droughts
and floods, and heavy deforestation have taken a toll. There has been a decrease in the number of
species in the rainforest, and many are endangered or vulnerable, including elephants and
mountain gorillas. Unregulated hunting and poaching are huge problems. Mining has caused a
loss of other natural resources and polluted the land with toxic chemicals. Local overfishing
suggests a need for fisheries management with other surrounding countries. One of the biggest
concerns is the shortage of clean drinking water. To address this, the DR Congo is a part of the
REDD+ scheme (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), a UN
program to protect carbon in forests and reduce carbon emissions. This includes preventing
deforestation for agriculture, and burning to clear land. REDD+ offers financial incentives for
land sustaining practices.
Overall, the DR Congo has achieved progress in the UN Millennium Goals. Girls are
attending primary school in numbers similar to boys, women are being empowered to step up
and claim parity with men, disease has been reduced and some attempts to improve sustainability
have begun. Food insecurity remains a huge problem, contributing to the high child and maternal
mortality rates, but those rates have improved, just less than hoped for. The overwhelming
poverty has not improved as much as hoped for either; slowly improving economic growth,
along with developing various power sources, better systems to deal with natural disasters (such
as volcanos, epidemics and forest fires), and creating green jobs for former combatants are all
being pursued to push progress forward.






Sources:
Congo, Dem. Rep. (2005, January 1). Data. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from
http://data.worldbank.org/country/congo-dem-rep

The Millennium Development Goals Eight Goals for 2015. (2014, January 1). Millennium
Development Goals. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/mdgoverview/

DR Congo improves education, child survival but greater efforts needed UN. (2010, October
6). . Retrieved July 26, 2014, from
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36354#.U9L9ZPldWSq

UNEP Study Confirms DR Congo's Potential as Environmental Powerhouse but Warns of
Critical Threats . (2011, October 10). Press Releases October 2011 - UNEP. Retrieved July 27,
2014, from
http://www.unep.org/NEWSCENTRE/default.aspx?DocumentId=2656&ArticleId=8890

UN-REDD Programme -- About REDD+. (2009, January 1). UN-REDD Programme -- About
REDD+. Retrieved July 27, 2014, from http://www.un-
redd.org/aboutredd/tabid/102614/default.aspx