INTRODUCTION

Education is the means par excellence to train the mind of man in order to move him away from ignorance, the cause of all the evils that are rampant in the world (J. Davidson et al., 2012). It is also the means by which we contribute to strengthening the union between young people to develop them and prepare them to form a unified nation, founded on strong principles that resist passions wherever they come from (Glerum et al., 2020). Finally, it is the only means of peacefully effecting technical and political changes in society (Ali et al., 2015).

Since independence, Africa has made remarkable progress in developing human resources; but there is a worrying slowdown due mainly to economic and financial difficulties and population growth (Mamman et al., 2018). In the perspective of socio-economic development of African States, all efforts tend to imagine the role and characteristics of an education system and a school for the present and the future (Cunningham et al., 2006). In the search for a new, more efficient and effective school, capable of meeting the challenges of our time, nothing is more fundamental and essential than its funding (Johnson & Thomas, 2012). However, the governments of developing countries, hit by an economic recession, tend to rigorously limit expenditure on education.

In our country the Congo, one of the reasons for the weakness of education in general and of primary school in particular, is unfortunately the very insufficient funding allocated to it (Titeca & De Herdt, 2011). Many observers are disappointed with the academic performance of our education system. When it comes to researching the causes of this academic deterioration, financing, the need for which is well known, often does not hold the attention of managers and decision-makers in the system (Autesserre, 2012). Everyone agrees to recognize that for several years, the primary school no longer benefits from appropriate funding capable of ensuring its proper functioning (Ihebuzor, 2014).

The object of this research work is the study of the financing of education in general and primary school in particular, of the role played by the two major partners, the State and families. education began to grow much faster than income, when it was believed that a link had been discovered between education and economic growth, certain economists began to study the economic aspects of education and tried to demonstrate the legitimacy of such a company.

Everyone knows that, even when education is free, families must contribute in part to its financing. In 1965, when the nationalization of education occurred in our country, the Congolese themselves took the educational system (Kohli et al., 2018). This system was strongly shaken and great problems that the country had to face emerged. Despite the reaffirmation of free public education through article 1 of law 25-95 of November 17, 1995, what is the current situation? School supplies, once free, are now the responsibility of parents; The internment of children, the granting of pensions and scholarships, previously provided by the State, are phenomena on the way to extinction.

That's not all, because several facts experienced in our professional life challenge more than one parent in the face of charges deemed as restrictive, asphyxiating and exasperating. Non-payment of school fees within the time limits set by the school administration, exposes to sanctions such as the expulsion of the student from the course (Angèle et al., 2021). The child will only be able to join his class when his situation has been regularized by the parent. Only in the meantime will the child have lost time and fallen behind in class. We therefore undertake this study with the objective on the one hand, to elucidate from a comparative work of expenditure, which of the State or the private (relative), supports the most weight of the financing of the education; on the other hand, to demonstrate that, whatever their income, the Congolese today have difficulty meeting the educational needs of their children.

It is in this perspective that we ask ourselves the following questions: (1) is the Congolese public school still this institution whose education is free?, (2) what does the concept of gratuity mean in today's reality?, (3) what are the main areas of intervention by the State and parents?, (4) does the Congolese income today meet the cost of raising children?

From this questioning we drew the following working hypotheses: (1) The Congolese State is experiencing enormous difficulties in taking control of the educational situation, (2) free appears today as a concept that evokes no reality, (3) the parents of pupils finance primary education, become the principal providers of the school, and (4) parents' income no longer meets their responsibility.

The objectives of this research are: (1) check the financing capacity of the State and parents in the education of children in public primary school; (2) make decision-makers aware of the weight that weighs on the parents of pupils in the financing of education; (3) to propose alternative solutions in the sense of the alleviation of certain expenses to which the parents are compelled and with a view to an equitable sharing of the educational burden or a better distribution of the financial burden of the investment between the potential partners of the educational system.

METHOD

A. Field of investigation

The school department of Brazzaville constitutes our field of study, but, for practical, economic reasons and availability of information, we have limited ourselves to the school districts of Bacongo and Makélékélé I. Indeed, that is where we were able to carry out our study. The schools and inspectorates of these two constituencies therefore constitute the target population.

C. Data Collection Methods

In order to carry out our investigation, we have retained as research techniques: the documentary study and the interview (Creswell & Poth, 2016).

1. The documentary study

The choice of this technique is justified by the fact that our main source of data collection is constituted by the financial reports of the schools, the Inspectorates selected and the Departmental Directorate of Education of Brazzaville.

a) accurately identify the main providers of the Congolese public primary school;

b) compare financing according to their origin;

c) determine the efforts of parents and those of the State.

2. The Interview

We also used interviews (Semi-structured) to collect certain data and information that we could not find in the documents consulted (Moleong, 2021). Indeed, the interview was for us the means par excellence which enabled us to obtain the opinions of the various people consulted. They therefore gave their points of view on free education, on the reasons which would have led the State to gradually disengage from certain school obligations.

Thus we spoke with some officials of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. The Departmental Director of the city of Brazzaville also gave his opinion. Similarly, the Inspectors, Head of School Districts Makélékélé 1 and Bacongo, the Directors of the selected schools, spoke on the subject. Authorities from Parents' Associations, a few teachers and around twenty parents per school, or 200 parents in total, also answered our questions.

The questions to which they answered focused on free public education and on the sources of funding for the activities of school structures, their interviews, on the payment of labor related to the various works undertaken at the school and parents' ability to finance education in relation to their income. The questions were:

a) do you think public education is always free?

b) Is the cost of raising the child today high? not high? or is it affordable?

c) does your income allow you to meet all the school requirements of your children?

d) what is the state really doing for the current school? what do parents do for the school?

3. Data Processing

The data collected allowed us to analyze the situation. We have therefore calculated the percentages in order to make the results more understandable with regard to free education. As for the determination of the weight of the education of each partner, we proceeded to the comparison of the collected figures.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Interview results

To answer the main question and the secondary questions relating to free public education, the current reality of the concept of free education and the difficulties experienced by the Congolese in financing the education of children, we conducted interviews with parents of students. We interviewed a sample of two hundred (200) parents, divided by category, according to their income.

Incomes were estimated from the declarations of parents with one or more incomes. We insisted on knowing the number of secure individual incomes available in a household if possible. The method is based on the declaration of the respondents. It was easier to estimate the income of a State employee by using his rank, than for people with a liberal profession. The risk of error is therefore great in this case. Thus this distribution is made as follows:

1. Lower category: Income of less than 100,000 XAF (State agents of category C and below, people exercising small trades: (small traders, craftsmen, farmers, labourers, etc.).

2. Middle category: Income between 100,000 and 150,000XAF (salaried workers, traders, bus and taxi drivers, skilled workers, etc.).

3. Superior category: Income of more than 150,000XAF (State agents in A and other employees, lawyers, customs declarants, wholesale traders, owners of large trading houses, etc.).

The reserved attitude sometimes displayed by individuals constituted a difficulty which did not ensure the reliability of the information received. These parents were randomly interviewed in the neighborhoods where the schools in our sample are located.

Table 3

Distribution of parents of students questioned according to sources of income and categories.

Categories Sources of income	Categ. Sup.		Categ. Medium		Categ. Inf.		Total
Wages	Clear	For C.	Clear	For C.	Clear	For C.	Clear	For C.
Wages	42	70%	47	57.34	29	50%	118	59%
Farm income	-	-	-	-	11	18.96	11	5.50
Income from commercial activities	18	30%	23	28.04	8	13.80	49	24.50
Income from craft activities	-	-	10	12.19	5	8.62	15	7.50
Other income			2	2.43	5	8.62	7	3.50
Total	60	100%	82	100%	58	100%	200	100%

Source: our survey 2020

Table 5

Breakdown of opinions expressed by category: What is the concept of free public education today?

Categories Answers	Categ. Sup.		Categ. Medium		Categ. Inf.		Total
Everything is paid except salaries	Clear	For C.	Clear	For C.	Clear	For C.	Clear	For C.
Everything is paid except salaries	65	41.13	94	43.31	64	41.83	235	44.50
Simple theory	53	33.55	82	37.80	69	45.10	192	36.37
The parent has no monthly contribution	18	11.40	23	10.60	9	5.88	50	9.47
The contribution of the parents is only complementary	22	13.92	18	8.29	11	7.18	51	9.66
Total	158	100%	217	100%	153	100%	528	100%

Source: our survey 2020

This table highlights the following trends: the rate of opinion of those who think that free education today boils down to the simple payment of salaries by the State - because almost everything else is done by the parents of students — is higher (44,500/0). By category, the proportion of respondents in the middle category is higher. It is 43.31%; then comes that of the opinions of those in the lower category with 41.83%. The opinions of those who maintain that free education is no more than a fact of legal text, that is to say that it no longer has more than a theoretical reality, are also quite numerous (36.37%); the rest represents the tendency of those who still believe in free public education. Overall this rate is low (19.13%). It is important to note that the sum of opinions converging on the negation of free education is very high (80.87%). By category, it is those in the lower category who are more numerous (86.93%); followed by those in the middle category with 81.11%.

These trends are similar to those of the previous table where they decrease from the lower category to the upper category. This concept appears today as a concept that evokes no reality among Brazzaville residents.

In view of these results, we can conclude that public education is no longer free in the Congo. However, every parent must realize that the welfare state no longer exists. What we must look for in our opinion is certainly to obtain a substantial reduction in the charges to relieve, even a little, the parents of pupils.

B. Results of the desk study

In order to identify the fields of intervention of the parents of pupils and the State and to evaluate the efforts of the parents of pupils and the State in the financing of the primary school, we had recourse to the Documentary study based on the schools' financial reports, supported by a few interviews. The following tables represent the financial contribution of parents and the State by section in five schools in Bacongo and five in Makélékélé I by chapter, during the years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.

The contribution of parents takes concrete form through school rights. It should be noted that each year, a memorandum from the departmental education directorate sets the amount of contributions per student. The funds collected are divided into three chapters, each comprising the following headings: Investment — Transfer — Operation.

1. By Investment, we mean the part of the school contributions which goes to the parents' associations and which is used to carry out various activities such as construction, equipment, various repairs according to the programming of the boards of directors. In order to minimize the risk of misappropriation, this fund, formerly managed exclusively by the heads of establishments, is now entrusted to a joint management committee which brings together representatives of the various associations of parents whose pupils are enrolled in the establishment. They are joined by the Director and his Manager.

2. The Transfer designates here the part of the school contributions which is transmitted to other Inspection, school insurance, Direction structures for use. We can mention: Regional Education, rights to CEPE and Competition.

3. Operation is the chapter that represents the share necessary to operate the administration of the school. It is the administration of the school which ensures the exclusive management.

Table 8

Contribution of parents of students from Bacongo and Makélékélé I by year and by chapter

Constituency Chapter	Bacongo				Makelekele				Total
Investment	18-19	19-20	Total	%	18-19	19-20	Total	%	Rising	%
Investment	2,334,640	1,990,895	4,325,535	29.44	3,236,740	3,367,370	6,604,110	30.32	10,929,645	29.96
Transfer	31,121,175	5,283,625	8,395,800	57.15	6,281,375	6,371,475	12,652,850	58.08	21,048,650	57.72
Functioning	844.705	1,126,335	1,971,040	13.41	1,078,710	1,447,130	2,525,840	11.60	4,496,880	12.32
Total	6,291,520	8,400,855	14,692,375	100%	10,596,825	11,185,975	21,782,800	100%	36,475,185	100%

Table 11

Breakdown of children attending school by category of parents

Number of children Category	1 to 2		3 to 4		5 and more		Total
Superior	Clear	Rate	Clear	Rate	Clear	Rate	Clear	Rate
Superior	45	75.00	10	16.66	5	8.34	60	100%
Mean	68	82.92	8	9.75	6	7.33	82	100%
Lower	29	50.00	22	37.93	7	12.07	58	100%
Total	142	71.00	40	20.00	18	9.00	200	100%

Source: our survey 2020

Given the financial difficulties, many families have changed their way of life despite themselves.

Elies renounced:

1. at breakfast: 41.66% for the superior category; 42.68% for the middle category and 74.13% for the lower category;

2. travel by rolling means: (33.33% for the upper category; 51 for the medium category and 94.82% for the lower category;

3. for a meal: 40.00% for the superior category; 62.19% for the middle category and 86.200/0 for the lower category.

Through these deprivations, the parents try to ensure the essentials of the needs in order to make ends meet for the month”.

The expenditure situations that have enabled us to demonstrate that the income of the Congolese no longer meets the cost of educating children are simple theoretical elaborations that may have a certain gap with reality. This is the real limit of our work.

D. Discussion

Thus, with more than 80% schooling, the crisis and the mismanagement of public affairs, the Congo could no longer really cope with this free education. We then gradually witnessed the disengagement of the State.

Today, the Congolese are wondering whether or not the gratuity which is still in question in the law 25/95 of November 17, 95 in its article 1 is still appropriate. After having been little known for a long time, the expenses of families for the education of their children are beginning to be assessed in most countries.

Among the authors who have written on the need to finance the primary cycle as a priority, we note the World Bank. The resources available per student are minimal and have further declined in low-income countries. However, the school-age population is much higher, as a percentage of the total population, at 75% in low-income countries. “Since 1965, education expenditure expressed as a percentage of gross national product (GNP) has been lower in low-income countries than in middle-income or high-income countries”. (World Bank, 1992, p.46). To improve this situation, the World Bank proposes two avenues likely to generate additional resources for primary education:

1. governments can reallocate funds from other sectors to education;

2. diversify sources of funding for primary education by introducing new taxes and strengthening local finances. This would help address the three interrelated weak points of education financing, which are: poor cost-effectiveness, dependence of education financing on general central government revenues, and inequality between high-income and low-income families.

This approach of the World Bank is an interesting opening for our country which no longer succeeds in properly financing primary education and whose parents of pupils do not stop complaining of the heavy educational burden which has been imposed on them almost entirely for several years. already. It is therefore in this perspective that this analysis by the World Bank becomes very attractive to us, because not only does it highlight the importance of primary education and the need to finance it, but even more, it suggests alternative solutions to the education funding.

On the other hand, on the same question of the financing of education, Keith (Keith, 1986) says that, in times of austerity, education budgets run the risk of bearing a good part of the cuts.

The author also notes that since 1980, the share of public funding in education has stopped increasing and that it is, in this case, the private share that will increase. This is why: "Many systems collect official or unofficial tuition fees in order to support the operation of school services, which increases the direct costs for parents, even in systems where education is free in principle” (Keith, 1986).

This reflection by (Keith, 1986) is an important light for our work. Indeed, the situation described corroborates the case of the Congolese education system. As a result, it opens up horizons for us that allow us to better understand the plausible causes of the renunciation by the State of financing primary education if this is the case today. However, he thinks, it is It's about balancing the advantages and disadvantages of this formula as well as possible.

Peter concludes by saying: "It is clear that governments, whatever their political leanings, will strive to find other means of financing education and will look to the independent sector for this purpose, including households...” (1986, P.263).

This article is also edifying for our study insofar as it clearly identifies certain aspects of the cost of education that interest us, especially when it establishes that even in establishments where education is free, parents and students bear always a certain cost which translates into a shortfall or miscellaneous costs. But it becomes more attractive to us when it offers us a solution applicable in our educational system and which could relieve the parents of pupils: the joint financing of schools by the State and the private sector, preferably the religious denominations which are agreed schools. The first would be responsible for granting scholarships and paying teachers, the second could be responsible for the operation and equipment of schools. If it is no longer realistic to return to totally free education, the families would then be responsible for supporting the student exclusively or in part. The area of construction and equipment could be a sector of joint State/religious denominations intervention, depending on the agreements they could sign.

The methodological guide for education sector analysis (2014 p.127) which focuses on primary and secondary education states that “despite the availability of official documents (finance laws, budgets). It is important to know as precisely as possible what has actually been spent. The finance law or the budget mark an intention to spend and not an actual expenditure” (2014, p.127). The guide provides methods for our work for a detailed analysis of the costs and financing of our education system. The experience of Burundi on the financing of education presented by the finance and education working group of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) gives the etiology of the financing problems in Burundi which are the same as in the Republic of Congo (Adea & Codesria, 2006).

CONCLUSION

In embarking on this study, we were concerned with verifying what Brazzaville residents currently understand by free education, while questioning the distribution of duties between the State and parents with regard to the financing of education. We also sought to understand whether parents still have the necessary resources to educate their offspring. We therefore structured our work around a main question which concerns free education and three secondary questions centered respectively on the current reality of the concept of free education, on the fields of intervention of the state and parents in the financing of education and on the parents' ability to finance it. teaching supervisors.

The results obtained led us to conclusions, the most important of which deserve to be retained:

The parents surveyed are marked by a fairly clear imbalance between those who deny free public education in the Congo (80.50 percent) and those who grant it credit (19.50 percent). This is how this majority declares it simply theoretical or reduces it to the sole area of payment of the salaries of teaching staff.

Furthermore, at the end of this study, we find that the parents of pupils support the education of children in two directions, each as important as the other. The first, through school contributions, they support the school institution at 100% and the second is that by which they support their children in the sense of their satisfaction in school needs at 100% as well. The State, for its part, has reserved the areas of teacher training, their salaries and major works when it can. There again, it is more and more in the process of unburdening itself of it and finally retaining only the first domain (training and salary of teachers).

Parents, so to speak, are therefore overburdened for resources which, at the limit, are survival income. In fact, the obligatory expenses of families swallow up almost all the income of each household, without it covering all the needs, including the education of the children.

Ultimately, let's say that there are not several educational funding policies in force in primary school. Whatever the geographical environment, what is happening in Brazzaville is also true everywhere across our national territory.

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Headings	Expected amount	Authorized amount	Actual expenditures
Office supplies	1 .ooo.ooo	500,000	250,000
Small office equipment	1 .ooo.ooo	500,000	-
Total	2,000,000	1 .ooo.ooo	250,000

Categories Strata	Categ. Sup.	Categ. Medium	Categ. Lower
1	196.800F	136.800F	100.300F
1 – 1	197.500F	137.500F	106.800F
1 – 2	205.300F	145.300F	107.500F
1 – 3	220.900F	160.900F	115.300F
1 – 4	250.900F	199.900F	124.400F
1 – 5	274.900F	214.900F	145.900F

No.	Course	Cost per lesson	Average cost of training in Primary School	Monthly cost
1	CP1	75.900F	559.450:6 = 93.245F	93.245: 9 = 10.360F
2	CP2	76.950F
3	CE1	85.300F
4	CE2	104.850F
5	CM1	107.875F
6	CM2	110.175F
Total		559.450 F	93.245F	10.360F

Constituencies	Number of Schools
Makelekele	13
Bacongo	12
Total	25

Categories Needs	Categ. Sup.		Categ. Medium		Categ. Int.
	Clear	Rate	Clear	Rate	Clear	Rate
Breakfast	25	41.66	36	42.68	43	74.13
Travel by rolling means	20	33.33	42	51.21	55	94.82
A meal	24	40.00	51	62.19	50	86.20