About

Citizen monitoring of schools in the DRC: trained students monitor their school, publish problems and follow them until they are fixed.

EduCheck at a glance

Making school problems visible, until they are fixed

EduCheck is the citizen monitoring service for schools of the Anti-Corruption Research Centre (CERC). Trained students, parents and teachers, organised in Integrity Clubs, monitor their school and school building sites with a common questionnaire.

Every problem found is published, sent to the school management and followed publicly until a fix is verified on site. Decision-makers finally have reliable information from the field.

  • Verified findings, not rumours
  • Public, downloadable data
  • Protected monitors, never named

The challenge

Problems that decision-makers never see

In many schools, there is no channel of verified information between the classroom and those in charge. Difficulties take root because nobody sees or follows them.

  • Overcrowded classrooms

    Rooms too small, leaking roofs, pupils sitting on the floor for lack of desks.

  • Water and latrines

    Too few or non-separate latrines: a direct barrier to girls’ attendance.

  • Absent teachers

    Lost teaching hours, with no simple way to report them.

  • Illegal fees

    Fees charged to families without official basis, rarely challenged.

  • Poorly monitored building sites

    Delayed works, poor-quality materials, bills of quantities never made public.

  • Excluded pupils

    Buildings that pupils with disabilities cannot access.

How it works

From the finding to the verified solution

  1. 1

    Train

    CERC trains monitors in citizen monitoring, objective observation and data collection ethics.

  2. 2

    Observe

    During regular visits, always in pairs, they answer the common questionnaire and take photos.

  3. 3

    Publish

    Every « no » answer becomes a public problem, sent to the school management.

  4. 4

    Dialogue

    Students, management, parents and authorities look for a solution together, without accusing.

  5. 5

    Verify

    A fix only counts once a second monitor has confirmed it on site.

Our approach in detail

Who is EduCheck for?

The same information, three uses

  • Students and community

    • Report a problem safely
    • Follow every report until it is fixed
    • Celebrate the repairs obtained
    Become a monitor

  • School heads

    • Know the priorities voiced by students
    • Answer and show the fixes made
    • Highlight the school’s efforts to the authorities
    Find my school

  • Authorities and partners

    • Target the schools and sites most in need
    • Check the use of funding in the field
    • Follow the correction rate over time
    Explore the data

Our commitments

What makes EduCheck credible

  • Transparency

    Problems, fixes and figures are public and free to download.

  • Protection

    Monitors’ names are never published; only their role appears.

  • Dialogue

    The aim is the solution, not sanction or blame.

  • Verification

    A fix only counts once confirmed on site.

  • Inclusion

    Girls and boys, pupils with disabilities: everyone has a place in the clubs.

  • Independence

    Findings come from Integrity Clubs, with a method shared by all schools.

Concrete results

Success story · South KivuAt Institut Itara, three new classrooms and eight latrinesFifteen student monitors alerted the school: three toilets for 590 pupils and overcrowded classrooms. Their advocacy led to new buildings.Read the story

A proven method

EduCheck draws on Integrity Action’s DevCheck approach and on community integrity building, adapted to the Congolese context by CERC.

See the live figures

Act with EduCheck

Student, parent, teacher, school head or partner: everyone can help build better schools.

Become a monitor Explore the dashboard Contact CERC