In a dimly lit classroom of the Goma Technical Industrial Institute, 19-year-old Plamedie Byamungu leans over her desk, pen in hand, determined not to let the rat-a-tat of gunfire silence her future.

GOMA, DR Congo, June 6 (Xinhua) -- In a dimly lit classroom of the Goma Technical Industrial Institute, 19-year-old Plamedie Byamungu leans over her desk, pen in hand, determined not to let the rat-a-tat of gunfire silence her future.

This week, more than 31,000 students, including over 14,000 girls, are sitting for these national exams in parts of North Kivu Province seized by the March 23 Movement (M23), a rebel force that has tightened its grip on eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since late 2022.

For youngsters like Byamungu, passing the country's most important academic rite of passage -- the examen d'Etat -- is not only a personal milestone but also an act of defiance against war.

The 59th edition of the national exam began on Monday. In M23-controlled areas, such as Goma, Masisi, and Rutshuru territories of North Kivu, the launch was supervised not by the DRC government but by Shadrack Amani Mukuba, deputy governor for administration appointed by the rebels.

"My impressions are positive," Mukuba said after visiting several exam centers. "The organizing committees are in place, the students are focused. I told them this exam is like any other, and that they should make the province proud."

While Kinshasa, the country's capital, firmly rejects the legitimacy of any rebel-run authority, local teachers and inspectors face a harsher truth on the ground: without compromise, thousands of students would be left behind.

"We cannot let an entire generation slip through the cracks," said one school director in Goma, who requested anonymity. "Whether the flag flying above the building is national or rebel, our mission remains the same -- to teach."

The continuation of national exams in active conflict zones has been made possible in part by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which transported sealed trunks of exam papers from Kinshasa to all corners of North Kivu, including those rebel-held regions.

According to a UNICEF report in February, more than 1.6 million children are out of school due to escalating conflict and mass displacement. In North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, over 2,500 schools and learning centers have been forced to close, leaving about 795,000 children without access to education.

An even bleaker picture came into the spotlight following the release of UNICEF's March 2025 humanitarian update. Across eastern DRC, 5,927 schools reportedly remain shut, resulting in nearly two million children deprived of formal education.

At the launch ceremony in Goma, Sosthene Mpanga, chief education inspector for North Kivu 1 Zone, reassured the students in his address.

"You don't need to be afraid," he said. "These exams follow the same national curriculum you studied. The examiners are not strangers. They're parents, like yours. They want you to succeed."

Nevertheless, many of the 22,323 students registered in the zone did not show up. "Some are missing today," Mpanga admitted. "We know why: fear, displacement, and broken roads."

Though violence has turned classrooms into front lines and schoolyards into checkpoints, students like Byamungu hold on to the silver lining that education can outlast the war.

"We thought it would be impossible to take the exams this year," she said. "But we were ready. The war didn't unbalance us. We've been preparing since the beginning."

In a region where adolescence is so often fractured by conflict, the return of exam marks a tentative step toward normalcy. Education has not been silenced, but whispers forward through pencil strokes and test papers, even under the watch of gunned rebels.

"When we sit down to write, we forget for a moment the fear and the uniforms," said the soft-spoken Byamungu. "It's just us and the paper."