Physical and Sports Education in High Schools in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Significance, Challenges, and Implication for Social Work

Physical and sports education (PES) is an integral part of the student's curriculum and contributes to their mental health. The Congolese educational system offers a PES program for young students from primary to secondary school. In the post-conflict context, knowledge about the involvement of social work remains almost non-existent. This article examines practices related to PES, challenges, importance of PES in high schools, and highlights the implication of social work. Based on interviews with students and teachers following the saturation principle. It is cross-sectional and descriptive with 49 study participants. This study finds that PES promotes the mental health of students. The latter are confronted with challenges such as organizational, financial, teacher’s profiles, and the space for practices, the lack of clear objectives assigned to the practice of PES, and the lack of innovative projects in PES. Students and teachers recognize the importance of PES in the process of their mental health. Recognizing the roles of social workers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can become a stepping stone to improving PES as a therapeutic framework for students. This article supports the implication of social work to promote an inclusive framework through the collaboration of different stakeholders in the school environment for the effectiveness of PES in high schools.