Editing Belgian Congo (section)

===Education===
[[File:Classe dans le Chimbek.jpg|thumb|Education by the [[Franciscan Missionaries of Mary]] ({{circa}} 1930)]]
The educational system was dominated by the [[Catholic Church]]—as was the case for the rest of Belgium at the time—and, in some rare cases, by [[Protestant]] churches. Curricula reflected Christian and Western values. Even in 1948, 99.6% of educational facilities were run by Christian missions. Indigenous schooling was mainly religious and vocational. Children received basic education such as learning how to read, write and some mathematics. The Belgian Congo was one of the few African colonies in which local languages ([[Kikongo]], [[Lingala]], [[Tshiluba language|Tshiluba]] and [[Swahili language|Swahili]]) were taught at primary school. Even so, [[language policy|language policies]] and colonial domination often went hand in hand, as evidenced by the preference given to [[Lingala]]—a semi-artificial language spread through its common use in the ''Force Publique''—over more local (but also more ancient) indigenous languages such as [[Lomongo]] and others.<ref>Fabian, Johannes (1986), ''Language and Colonial Power, The Appropriation of Swahili in the Former Belgian Congo 1880–1938'', Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref>
In 1940 the schooling rates of children between 6 and 14 years old was 12%, reaching 37% in 1954, one of the highest rates in [[sub-Saharan Africa]]. Secondary and higher education for the indigenous population were not developed until relatively late in the colonial period. Black children, in small numbers, began to be admitted to European secondary schools from 1950 onward. The first university in the Belgian Congo, the Catholic Jesuit [[Lovanium University]], near Léopoldville, opened its doors to black and white students in 1954. Before the foundation of the Lovanium, the [[Catholic University of Leuven (1835–1968)|Catholic University of Louvain]] already operated multiple institutes for higher education in the Belgian Congo. The ''Fomulac'' (Fondation médicale de l'université de Louvain au Congo), was founded in 1926, with the goal of forming Congolese medical personnel and researchers specialized in tropical medicine. In 1932 the Catholic University of Louvain founded the ''Cadulac'' (Centres agronomiques de l'université de Louvain au Congo) in [[Kisantu]]. Cadulac was specialized in agricultural sciences and formed the basis for what was later to become [[Lovanium University]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vanderyst |first1=Hyacinthe |title=La future université catholique au Congo belge occidental |journal=Revue missionnaire |volume=1927 |pages=253–257}}</ref> In 1956 a state university was founded in [[Elisabethville]]. Progress was slow though; until the end of the 1950s, no Congolese had been promoted beyond the rank of non-commissioned officer in the [[Force Publique]], nor to a responsible position in the administration (such as head of bureau or territorial administrator).

In the late 1950s, 42% of the youth of school-going age was literate, which placed the Belgian Congo far ahead of any other country in Africa at the time. In 1960, 1,773,340 students were enrolled in schools around the Belgian Congo, of which 1,650,117 in primary school, 22,780 in post-primary school, 37,388 in secondary school and 1,445 in university and higher education. Of these 1,773,340 students, the majority (1,359,118) were enrolled in Catholic mission schools, 322,289 in Protestant mission schools and 68,729 in educational institutions organized by the state.<ref name="Maere d 2011. p.319">A. de Maere d'Aertrycke, A. Schorochoff, P. Vercauteren, A. Vleurinck, ''Le Congo au temps des Belges'', Bruxelles, Masoin, 2011. p. 319. ({{ISBN|9782872020232}})</ref>