Primary schooling cost in Kinshasa, democratic republic of Congo

Abstract EN

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, many Congolese children of school age do not attend primary school and many enrolled children drop out of school before the end of the cycle, mainly for financial reasons.

We conducted a study to estimate the financial cost of a child's primary schooling in Kinshasa, to determine the essential components of this cost and compare the financial cost of a child's primary schooling according to school's status and location.

A survey was conducted with a sample of heads of households (N= 580) and school directors (N= 580) in the city of Kinshasa.

We then estimated that, on average, a household spends US $191.

94 per school year to enroll a child in primary school.

The average was highest for private schools (Means = US $ 215.

11) followed by government-regulated (Means = US $ 184.

13) and public institutions (Means = US $ 128.

05).