Exams Across Frontlines: How Students in Eastern DRC Sat Through Exam Season in Rebel Territory
As pencils rise and exam clocks begin, students in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are solely focused on the paper in front of them. However, for schools in these rebel-controlled regions, exam season looks and sounds a little different. Military guards remain quiet at each classroom door, and there are sounds of distant gunfire. Despite the chaos, this past June, students and teachers refused to give up and managed to keep education as stable as possible.
At the end of the year, secondary school students across the DRC take the national final, Examen d’État. A passing grade earns a qualification equivalent to a high school diploma, which opens up various opportunities for university and future employment. This diploma can allow people to work right after secondary school, which is critical in many DRC households.
Unlike past years though, this exam period in June brought a rare collaboration between the Congolese government and M23 rebel group. For years M23 has controlled portions of North and South Kivu in eastern Congo, operating almost as a make-shift government. This group is led by ethnic Tutsis and is growing in power, with rumored support from neighboring country, Rwanda. Despite the danger on these frontlines, almost 42,000 of the 44,000 registered students still studied and showed up for the exam. Conflict was put aside and both M23 and the Congolese government worked together in order to arrange safe measures for the exams to take place.
This required immense logistical planning. Government officials and M23 leaders came together and developed a plan to keep education from collapsing as a result of instability. The Congolese government began with waiving all exam fees for students in areas of conflict. The hope was that the free exams would lead to higher attendance in areas impacted by displacement. All exam papers were dispatched from the capital city, Kinshasa, and flown out to every region of the nation. Through supervision and accompaniment, the exam papers reached all 111 student centers in South Kivu. This operation was a tremendous success, and even newly captured regions in the east were able to acquire their resources without issue.
Safety was a main priority in this operation, and the government took measures to relocate a handful of exam centers. One center in danger, for example, was in Tongo. The area was having recurring disputes with rebel groups so the government ultimately decided to transfer all students to a center in Rubare in order to prevent any conflict from occurring.
'The education of our children is apolitical. It must be protected against any political divergence because we all work for the interest and well-being of our children,' M23 leader Betrand Bisimwa told Reuters. These words reflect the overall integrity of the decisions made. Politics and conflict were temporarily set aside in favor of one shared mission, the prosperity of Congolese students.
This rare sight symbolizes so much more: the need to draw a line in politics to prioritize citizens' well-being. While there was a successful outcome to the DRC’s Examen d’État, there is a much deeper education crisis running through eastern Congo that has been ongoing for years. According to UNICEF, an estimated 330,000 children in North and South Kivu remain out of school due to the violence spreading through more and more local communities. DRC’s weak government authority has allowed rebel groups to control many of the country's regions, forcing teachers and families to flee the area. Although UNICEF and other organizations are beginning to establish temporary classrooms, major progress cannot be accomplished without consistent funding. The direct parallel between the economy, political instability, and education shows the challenges schools face in operating normally when the government is unable to meet all responsibilities.
UNICEF captured first-hand glimpses of what life is like for many Congolese students. In the city of Goma, the classrooms were surrounded by broken glass and bullet holes. Lesly, a 16-year-old student from Goma, said ‘When you’re studying, you wonder if one day you’ll be able to live in peace again.’ For students like Lesly, taking the exam is a major achievement, but many still feel unsure about what the future holds.
The Examen d’État is a present-day issue showing how education and politics are interconnected. Some see this outcome as proof the state still has control across the country. Others think M23’s cooperation reflects their level of strength and influence in their controlled areas. One could argue that both sides gained legitimacy from this situation. Most importantly, this situation showed how classrooms were neutral in a country with such a wide divide.
As pencils are put down and the clocks ring, there is a glimmer of hope for the future. The cooperation between the state and a rebel group, although brief, demonstrated that education can remain a shared priority even when politics and conflict surround it. Beyond the DRC, this moment highlights the urgent need to protect education wherever conflict threatens it.
Image courtesy of Reuters via reuters.com, ©2025. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
