On July 28, students in North Kivu took state exams in a security environment defined by fighting between M23 rebels and Wazalendo militias in several localities across Masisi and Rutshuru territories.
Radio Okapi reported heavy gunfire in Shoa and Shamarambo, two villages in the Buabo group of Masisi territory, where both heavy and light weapons were heard from the morning. Those clashes followed earlier exchanges of fire around Luke and Nyabiondo in the Osso Banyungu sector. The report also said fighting continued in Rutshuru, including in Mashango and Mudugudu, where gunfire was again reported.
The direct consequence was disruption to the exam system. At least two centers originally planned for Luke were moved to Kinigi in the neighboring Mufuni Kibabi group to protect candidates. In Rutshuru, two other exam centers were also relocated: Birambizo was transferred to Nyanzale, and Bambo was moved to Tongo. These are not minor administrative adjustments; they are emergency relocations prompted by active violence.
The report says the clashes involve a mix of armed groups, including PARECO and ACLS of January Karairi on one side and the AFC/M23 on the other. It also describes violence linked to the AFC/M23 and Wazalendo fighters associated with the Collective of Movements for Change. The naming of multiple groups underlines how fragmented the conflict landscape remains in eastern Congo, where local alliances can shift and overlapping claims to territory can turn a school exam into a security operation.
Several villages were reportedly emptied as residents fled into the bush to escape the fighting. That detail matters because it shows the humanitarian cost is not limited to exam disruption. When communities leave their homes, the damage reaches shelter, food access, movement and the ordinary life of local markets and schools.
Even centers that remained open did so under strain. Radio Okapi said the Mwesso, Kitshanga and Nyanzale centers continued functioning on July 28, but amid fear and concern from local populations and leaders who had watched weekend fighting around those settlements. The report suggests the exam process continued, but only by operating around the conflict rather than above it.
The result is a picture of education policy running headlong into war. State exams are normally a national milestone, but in North Kivu they became another measure of insecurity. The relocations show both the resilience of the system and the extent to which armed conflict still determines where students can safely sit for an exam.
The school disruption also shows how civilians are forced to adapt to armed conflict in eastern Congo. Moving exam centers to safer villages is an attempt to preserve a normal civic calendar, but it also means students, teachers and families are asked to work around a battlefield. When villages empty out and people flee to the bush, schooling becomes just one more service fighting for survival.
That is why the exam relocations matter beyond the education sector. They reveal how deeply the M23-Wazalendo conflict has penetrated daily life in Masisi and Rutshuru. The report suggests local authorities are trying to keep the exam system alive, but only by shifting it away from the places most directly affected by gunfire. In a region where front lines move quickly, even a state exam becomes a test of whether institutions can function at all.
