L’école primaire congolaise entre héritage, hybridité et résilience

This contribution attempts to grasp the mechanisms that explain the resilience of the Congolese primary education despite the thirty-five years crisis that continues to affect the Democratic Republic of Congo and the almost complete lack of public investment in this sector since the early eighties. The central argument stresses the need to explain such mechanisms beyond the effects of privatization only. It particularly emphasizes the arrangements made within the education system, documenting their historical roots, and arguing that they are ultimately founded on the “concessionary” state structure that prevailed in colonial times.