The Church believed that "higher" education was to be given to the people who were entering the priesthood. So, the majority of the students received only a basic primary education. This was also reinforced by the Belgium government, whom discouraged a higher education for Africans. In 1954, the very first Congolese was accepted to a university for reasons that didn't pertain to religious education.
Belgium's education policy kept its controversy while Britain and France policies contrasted sharply. Britain and France sent a huge number of missionaries to their colonies while Belgium made educational promotion looked down upon. The missionaries from Britain and France founded schools and educational programs for their local community. Belgium in a sense, took little control over the education of their colonial subjects. The Congo had 587 missionaries and only 46,075 students in 1908. This small number was unable to "support" such a large population (ten million). Missionary goals also tracked away many Congolese from pursuing an education.
Education was not the only role Belgium that did not pay much attention to, but they also started to use Catholic missionaries as civil servants.
Near the end of the Congo's independence, the country had only 16 university graduates out of 13 million population. Engineers, doctors, physicians- all were not part of the 16 graduates. With the near zero number of graduates, it was difficult to unify the third largest country in the world. This was especially unfortunate due to the unique ethnic groups and incredible wealth from its natural resources. The absence from all of this contributed even more to its instability for the years to follow. The lack of educational opportunities and graduates was a central factor to the Congo's rocky road to independence.
Belgium's education policy kept its controversy while Britain and France policies contrasted sharply. Britain and France sent a huge number of missionaries to their colonies while Belgium made educational promotion looked down upon. The missionaries from Britain and France founded schools and educational programs for their local community. Belgium in a sense, took little control over the education of their colonial subjects. The Congo had 587 missionaries and only 46,075 students in 1908. This small number was unable to "support" such a large population (ten million). Missionary goals also tracked away many Congolese from pursuing an education.
Education was not the only role Belgium that did not pay much attention to, but they also started to use Catholic missionaries as civil servants.
Near the end of the Congo's independence, the country had only 16 university graduates out of 13 million population. Engineers, doctors, physicians- all were not part of the 16 graduates. With the near zero number of graduates, it was difficult to unify the third largest country in the world. This was especially unfortunate due to the unique ethnic groups and incredible wealth from its natural resources. The absence from all of this contributed even more to its instability for the years to follow. The lack of educational opportunities and graduates was a central factor to the Congo's rocky road to independence.