Author: Emmanuel Tshibangu

Brazzaville dialogue seeks a negotiated de-escalation In Brazzaville on 5 January, the Minister of Higher Education, Professor Delphine Edith Emmanuel, held a working session with representatives of sectoral union platforms and members of the Marien-Ngouabi University presidency. According to the information provided, the meeting aimed to harmonise positions among the parties and to advance a set of jointly agreed solutions, with the explicit objective of enabling the lifting of the strike currently affecting the institution. In an academic system that relies on continuity for teaching, examinations and research calendars, such structured dialogue is often treated as the preferred instrument for…

A landmark ceremony at a symbol of national memory The cavernous auditorium of the Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza Memorial resonated on Friday with ululations, camera flashes and the measured cadence of Gaudeamus Igitur. In this emblematic venue, the Institute of Professional Sciences and Technology (ISTP) conferred diplomas upon the finalists of its 2024-2025 cohort. Presiding over the ritual, Director-General Dr Charles Mambouana was flanked by the custodian of the memorial, Ms Belinda Ayessa, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps, employers’ organisations and senior civil servants. Observers familiar with Congolese academic life noted the unprecedented scale of the event,…

A strategic appointment for national literacy The modest but solemn ceremony held in Brazzaville on 7 November 2025 placed the question of literacy at the very centre of the government’s educational agenda. By installing Remy Alain Blaise Boumba as Director-General for Literacy and Non-Formal Education (DGAENF), the Minister of Pre-School, Primary, Secondary Education and Literacy, Jean-Luc Mouthou, reaffirmed the executive’s resolve to accelerate the reduction of illiteracy across the Republic of Congo. The presidential decree of 3 November had already signalled the Head of State’s confidence in the 61-year-old pedagogue; the investiture brought that decree to life, underlining the strategic…

A gateway to world-class research for Congolese talent Applications are now open for the 2026-2027 cohort of the Faculty for the Future programme, an initiative of the Schlumberger Foundation that funds PhD and postdoctoral studies for women from developing and emerging economies. For candidates in the Republic of Congo, the call constitutes far more than a scholarship announcement: it is an invitation to join a community of nearly one thousand fellows who have, over the past two decades, translated laboratory breakthroughs abroad into socially useful innovation at home. The Foundation will accept dossiers until 7 November 2025, giving prospective fellows…

Mediated truce in the education sector The unexpected announcement issued on 17 October by Herbin Bakétiba, spokesperson for the National Education Union Platform (PSEN), reverberated across faculty rooms from Pointe-Noire to Ouesso. Barely a week after union leaders had renewed a strike notice, they decided to “concede the suspension” of the action, trusting the personal involvement of the Mediator of the Republic, Valère Gabriel Eteka Yemet, to transmit their grievances to the executive. Two rounds of talks held on 14 and 17 October at the Mediator’s offices provided, according to participants, a “frank and fruitful” atmosphere conducive to compromise. Union…

Setting the Stage for Excellence in Madibou On 8 October, the usually quiet courtyard of Lycée Sébastien-Mafouta in the eighth arrondissement of Brazzaville filled with an unusual buzz. Standing before rows of neatly pressed uniforms, Professor Francine Ntoumi—internationally respected microbiologist and chair of the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM)—announced the creation of the Francine-Ntoumi Scholarship, subtitled “special Madibou” and inspired by the rallying call “Giving Ambition Wings”. The symbolism is deliberate: ambition, like flight, requires lift, and Ntoumi hopes her personal endowment will provide exactly that for the district’s most promising young women. The gesture arrives at a sensitive…

Grassroots Solidarity Ahead of the New School Year The sharpened scent of new notebooks and crayons reached two Brazzaville orphanages this week, when the apolitical Borja Kouila Organisation handed out school kits to more than fifty children. The gesture, part of its “Tous pour l’éducation” programme, took place in Talangaï and Ouenze—respectively the sixth and fifth districts of the Congolese capital—only days before classes officially resume on 1 October. While the numbers may seem modest in a metropolis of two million inhabitants, the symbolic value is considerable: each orphan returned to class with the same basic equipment as any other…

Brazzaville Amphitheatre Sets the Stage A warm July current floated across the Congo River as the Jean-Baptiste Tati-Loutard amphitheatre filled with academics, ministers and foreign envoys. Under the patronage of Professor Delphine Edith Emmanuel Adouki, Minister of Higher Education, the Société congolaise de psychologie opened its maiden congress, an event expressly dedicated to the late Dr. André Bouya, the country’s first psychology PhD holder. The symbolism was unmistakable: national memory intertwined with an earnest search for evidence-based responses to contemporary challenges. Bouya’s Legacy and National Academic Identity Dr. Bouya’s intellectual journey mirrors Congo-Brazzaville’s broader aspiration to craft indigenous social sciences…

A Strategic Campus at the Heart of the 2025 Youth Agenda The government of the Republic of the Congo has signalled a decisive turn in its higher-education policy by endorsing the creation of what officials call an “inclusive university”, a concept that merges academic excellence with broad social access. Speaking at the close of the National Assizes on Student Employability and Entrepreneurship in Brazzaville, Minister of Higher Education Delphine Edith Emmanuelle framed the initiative as a cornerstone of President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s decision to extend the Year of Youth through 2025. Far from mere rhetoric, the move is intended to…