The Minister of Higher and University Education (ESU), Muhindo Nzangi Butondo, launched on Thursday at the Higher Institute of Commerce in Kinshasa (ISC/KIN), free connectivity to enable Congolese students and teachers to access digital resources through national and international virtual libraries as well as other large-scale educational resources with the support of Airtel Congo and Huawei.

The Minister of ESU said that this activity is part of the fulfillment of the promise made by the Head of State Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo to provide all students in the country with free Wi-Fi connectivity to facilitate research, innovation and the modernization of the education system focused on the implementation of Bachelor-Master-Doctorate (LMD).

“Access to this national digital library is a major challenge for the LMD education system,” said Muhindo Nzangi, stressing that a team of experts he had set up worked for a year on this project.

Minister Muhindo Nzangi also proceeded with the symbolic delivery of the first academia SIM cards to students to enable connectivity and carry out the various digital research operations.

This project will be extended to students and teachers from all ESU establishments, supported by Airtel Congo.

In this vast program, the minister has already ordered 150,000 (one hundred and fifty thousand) computers which Congolese students will have to use with their smartphones to carry out these free digital searches.

Users will have access to over 200 million scientific works and articles. A demonstration was given by the IT advisor to explain this process of accessing digital scientific resources.

In turn, the Director General of ISC/KIN, Professor Emile Ngoy, the Director General of Airtel Congo, Thierry Diasonama and that of Huawei as well as the representative of the students of the DRC, welcomed the materialization of this partnership which they will have to support for its effectiveness.