The Congolese Cardinal decreed, October 4, that only Catholic teachers would be engaged in primary schools saying, “Henceforth, every teacher serving in a Catholic school must be a Catholic believer, who practices the faith of this religion.”
“This decision will have a positive impact on the Catholic faith and will preserve the values and image of Catholic schools,” Cardinal Ambongo further said during his October 4 homily at the Saint Eugene Parish in Kinshasa.
He explained that every teacher must be a practicing Catholic because catechesis “is part of the curriculum of all Catholic schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
The Cardinal also threatened to impose unspecified sanctions on Parish Priests and Coordinators of Catholic primary schools who will overlook the provision.
The Cardinal’s message has attracted condemnation from government officials and the leadership of the Teacher’s Trade Unions in DRC, with claims that the decision violates Article 13 of the country’s constitution prohibiting all forms of discrimination.
“We are a secular state and our country does not choose religious denominations. We only need teachers who are competent to convey the message, to give children as much information as possible so that they will be useful tomorrow in society, and we do not enshrine the policy of discrimination,” DRC’s Minister of Primary, Secondary and Technical Education (EPST), Willy Bakonga remarked October 12.
Speaking at the launch of the new school year in DRC at St. Raphael's College Kinshasa, Minister Bakonga promised to “get in touch with the Cardinal” to deliberate on the issue.
“I don't think a Cardinal who is a man of God, bringing everyone together can go as far as to discriminate against the education sector,” the government official observed.
On their part, officials of the Congo Teachers' Union (SYECO) termed Cardinal’s decision unconstitutional.
“Our Republic is first and foremost secular. A teacher cannot be forced to be Catholic, because first of all he is an agent of the State, he is paid by the Republic. To say that this teacher will be obliged to belong to this or that religious faith, in all this violates several laws of the Republic, including the Constitution,” the leadership of SYECO said in a statement issued October 9.
