September 2025 official statement on public primary school fees.
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Education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
DATAPublic primary: fee-free policy
Public primary: fee-free policy 路 Benchmarks: UIS 2025 profile
The Democratic Republic of the Congo combines a fee-free public primary policy with national SDG 4 benchmark targets for school completion. The Ministry reaffirmed in September 2025 that no fee may be charged to parents for public primary schooling. The national education ministry reaffirmed in September 2025 that no fee can be required from parents of pupils in public primary education. UIS benchmark values are shown as targets, not as measured completion outcomes.
Democratic Republic of the Congo education snapshot
This profile separates a current public-primary fee policy from UNESCO UIS completion benchmarks. The two evidence types describe different questions and are not combined.
Public primary tuition
No fee
Primary completion benchmark
67.9%*
Lower secondary benchmark
73.7%*
Upper secondary benchmark
36.2%*
* Reference years and benchmark targets are labelled with the figures.
How the education pathway works
Primary education is the stage covered by the fee-free public-school policy. Lower and upper secondary completion are tracked separately in the benchmark profile.
| Stage | When | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Primary education | First school stage | Public primary schooling is covered by the national fee-free policy reaffirmed by the education ministry in 2025. |
| Lower secondary | Following primary | UIS tracks lower-secondary completion separately and reports national benchmark values for progress monitoring. |
| Upper secondary | Later school stage | Upper-secondary completion has its own benchmark and should not be combined with lower-secondary completion. |
| Tertiary education | After secondary | Higher education follows the school stages, but this page does not insert an unsupported current national enrolment total. |
Key evidence
The policy statement and the UIS target table serve different purposes, so the page separates a current legal-policy fact from benchmark percentages.
| Indicator or rule | Value | Reference | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public primary school fees | No fee charged to parents | Reaffirmed Sep 2025 | MINEDU-NC |
| Primary completion benchmark | 67.9% | 2025 target | UNESCO Institute for Statistics |
| Lower secondary completion benchmark | 73.7% | 2025 target | UNESCO Institute for Statistics |
| Upper secondary completion benchmark | 36.2% | 2025 target | UNESCO Institute for Statistics |
* Reference years and benchmark targets are labelled with the figures.
Policy and benchmark data should not be collapsed into one measure
The September 2025 ministry statement is a current policy fact: parents may not be charged fees for public primary education. It says nothing by itself about completion or learning outcomes.
The UIS figures answer a different question. They are national benchmark targets for completion, including 67.9% for primary and 73.7% for lower secondary in 2025. DigifyWorld labels them as benchmarks so the targets are not mistaken for observed 2025 results.
Frequently asked questions
Is public primary education fee-free in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
The national education ministry reaffirmed in September 2025 that no fee may be required from parents for public primary education.
Is the 67.9% primary completion figure a measured 2025 result?
No. It is the national 2025 completion benchmark in the UNESCO UIS country profile.
What is the 2025 lower-secondary completion benchmark?
The UIS country profile lists 73.7% as the national 2025 benchmark.
Why does this page separate the fee-free policy from completion benchmarks?
They describe different things: one is a current public-primary policy and the others are national target values for progress monitoring.
Sources and methodology
The national education ministry supports the fee-free public-primary statement; UNESCO UIS supplies the country-specific benchmark table and benchmark methodology.
National education-system profile and 2025/2030 benchmark table.
Method and country-profile access for national education benchmarks.
Methodology: The fee-free statement is treated as policy, not as evidence of participation or completion. UIS percentages are labelled as benchmarks and are not represented as achieved 2025 outcomes.