Schooling in Madagascar

Schooling in Madagascar

Education is compulsory for five years in Madagascar. In 2000 the adult literacy rate had reached 66.5 percent, one of the highest rates in Africa.

 The current education system provides primary schooling for five years, from ages six to eleven.   After 5  years  (grade 5) the student need to write an exam, if they do not pass, they can not proceed with the next grade and this is typically the end of their education. 

Each public school has their own uniforms.  Different colors for different grades.  School  children break for lunch from 11:30am till 1:30pm.  One reason is  the long distance they need to travel  home for lunch.

In the public system, students are rquired to pay for their uniforms, books  and supplies.  Many families can not afford this luxury, hence, children do not attend school.

Education is compulsory for children between the ages of six and fourteen. The current education system provides primary schooling for five years, from ages six to eleven. Secondary education lasts for seven years and is divided into two parts: a junior secondary level of four years from ages twelve to fifteen, and a senior secondary level of three years from ages sixteen to eighteen. At the end of the junior level, graduates receive a certificate, and at the end of the senior level, graduates receive the equivalent of a high school diploma. A vocational secondary school system, professional college is the equivalent of the junior secondary level; the technical college, which awards the technical diploma, is the equivalent of the senior level.

A Historic School

 ^{A new School in a Coastal Village}

 Colonial schooling taught basic skills and French language fluency to most children, while particularly strong students were selected to receive training for civil servant roles at the secondary level

Learning one's place in traditional Malagasy society extended beyond the youth-adult-elder-ancestor hierarchy. Among many Malagasy ethnic groups, individuals were identified with particular castes; in traditional Merina society, for example, one of the three main castes had seven sub-castes. These divisions were overlaid by such additional factors as gender roles, with consequences for informal education: boys were expected to behave as befits one who would eventually become a good father, while girls were expected to demonstrate mastery of domestic skills and cultivate the qualities of a good wife and mother.

The University of Madagascar, established as an Institute for Advanced Studies in 1955 in Antananarivo, is the main institute of higher education. It maintains six separate, independent branches, one our city, in Toamasina (Tamatave).   The university system consists of several faculties, including law and economics, sciences, and letters andhuman sciences,  and numerous schools that specialize in public administration, management, medicine, social welfare, public works, and agronomy.  Reform measures are underway to improve the success rate of students—only 10 percent complete their programs, and the average number of years required to obtain a given degree is eight to ten compared with five years for African countries.

Education was prioritized under President Marc Ravalomanana (2001-2009), who sought to improve both access and quality of formal and non-formal education. A massive campaign of school renovation, expansion and construction has been coupled with the recruitment and training of tens of thousands more teachers. This initiative was supported with funds from intergovernmental organizations such as the World Bank and UNESCOWorld, and bilateral grants from many countries, including France, The United States and Japan.  The 2009 political crisis in Madagascar resulted in cessation of all but emergency aid to the country, further exacerbating poverty-related challenges and threatening to undo much recent progress in the education sector.

The lack of access is compounded by an education system that still rewards those who are the most proficient in the French language, despite the fact that the country is officially bilingual.  As of 1994, it was estimated that only between 20,000 and 30,000 citizens could be considered truly fluent in French and that another 2 million citizens have received, at best, a passive high school-level competence in the language. The vast majority (8 million to 9 million) speak only Malagasy, and, therefore, potentially find themselves at a distinct disadvantage in terms of future advancement. It is at least partially because of shortcomings in French-language abilities that approximately 90 percent of all first-year university students are refused entry into the second year

A final challenge revolves around the growing gap between a declining government-sponsored public school system and an increasingly vibrant and growing private school system. The Ratsiraka regime's education policy of Malagachization strengthened this primarily two-tiered education system during the 1980s. The elite and the well-off middle class placed their children in private French-language schools, while the vast majority of the relatively poorer population had little choice but to enroll their children in increasingly disadvantaged public schools. By the 1991-92 academic year, only 5,870 students were enrolled in private French-sponsored grade schools and high schools (the most prestigious of the education system), while another 199,433 students were enrolled in the second tier of private Roman Catholic schools where teaching is also in French. An undetermined small number of students were enrolled in a third tier of private schools considered "mediocre" by French-language standards, but the vast majority (1,534,142) found themselves competing in the public school system

University Students outside a Government office - protesting.  Apparently,  the Teachers decided that the exams the students wrote weren't going to be accepted as passing marks for the courses they took, so, their education is not being credited as taken.  I'd protest too!

For all intents and purposes public education does not exist in many parts of the country, particularly those poorer areas in the west and south that governments have traditionally neglected. In these regions schools, where they occur, are often run privately. They are doing what they can, but they need help.