School Clustering and Religious Competition:Persistence of Educational Inequality in Colonial and Post-colonial D.R. Congo

This paper examines the persistence of educational inequalities in Africa, focusing on colonial and contemporary Congo. By analyzing historical and contemporary surveys, archives, and school administrative data, we document the continuing impact of colonial-era factors and explore mechanisms of path dependency. We find that contemporary educational inequalities are driven by the clustering of post-independence schools around historical colonial schools. This clustering dynamic has increased over time and is shaped by religious competition between schools of different denominations. This spatial pattern significantly affects girls’ education more than boys’ because girls are more sensitive to distance barriers, explaining a stronger colonial legacy for female education. Our analysis suggests that parental education and missions as agents of structural change have limited influence on regional educational outcomes in this context.