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At independence, Madagascar had a system of education virtualy identical to that of metropolitan France (1960). The major difference was that at first attendance was only partial.
The country gave a priority to building large numbers of schools after independence reaching 13,000 schools (1995). This is close to the amount needed for universal education. The country reached 65 percent enrillment of primary-age children. (1965) and attendance is now almost universal.
The Madagascar education systems includes primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions. Primary education is for 5 years (ages 6-11 years of age). Secondary education is 7 years (age 11-18 years). Secondary
educationnis divided into two sections, a junior and senior stage. School is compulsory through age 14 years which means through most of the junior secondary stage. The junior stage lasts 4 years and the senior stage 3 years.
Students completing the junior stage receive certificates. The children can chose a vocational secondary school (collège professionelle / professional college) is the equivalent of the junior secondary stage. Those completing the senior secondary stage receive a baccalaureate. This is the equivalent of an American high school diploma.
The collège technique (technical college) awards the baccalauréat technique (technical diploma) which is the equivalent of the senior level. The secondary system consists of 700 general education secondary schools and 80 lycées or classical secondary institutions. Attendance falls away after the mandatory years. Some 36 percent of the children continue their secondaty studies.
The Madagscar Governmnt's steady expansion of the country's educational opportunities has had an impressive impact on Malagasy society. It has substantially increased the literacy rate of the population. It has increased from 39 percent (1966) to 50 percent (1980), and 80 percent (1991). [UNICCF]
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Madagagasr also has a well established tertiary (university) system, Institutions of higher education include: the Universite d'Antananarivo, Universite de Mahajanga, Universite de Toamasina, and others. About 5 percebt iof thec children go on to universitt studies.
Recent education reforms have sought to make a major shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered methods.
The Government has cut back on education funding, perhaps in part because less construction is required. Educational spending has declined from 33 percent of the national budget (early-1980s) to less than 20 percent (1993). We are not entirely sure why spending has declined so substantially.
At independence, Madagascar had a system of education virtualy identical to that of metropolitan France (1960). The major difference was that at first attendance was only partial. Here both the colonial experience and language were factors. Madagascar faces the same problem of many small countries. The number of works in their language is limited. And the numbr of translated works is limited. Thus unless a tsudent learns French, the huge body of human learning is closed off to him.
France began to build a school system in France, but it was still limited at the time of education. Madagascar at the time of independence gave some priority to education, although resources were limited. The country began building large numbers of schools after independence reaching 13,000 schools (1995). This is close to the amount needed for universal education. The country reached 65 percent enrillment of primary-age children. (1965) and attendance is now almost universal. The Government has cut back on education funding, perhaps in part because less construction is required. Educational spending has declined from 33 percent of the national budget (early-1980s) to less than 20 percent (1993). We are not entirely sure why spending has declined so substantially.
The Madagascar education systems includes primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions. Primary education is for 5 years (ages 6-11 years of age). Secondary education is 7 years (age 11-18 years). Secondary
education is divided into two sections, a junior and senior stage. School is compulsory through age 14 years which means through most of the junior secondary stage. The junior stage lasts 4 years and the senior stage 3 years.
Students completing the junior stage receive certificates. The children can chose a vocational secondary school (collège professionelle / professional college) is the equivalent of the junior secondary stage. Those completing the senior secondary stage receive a baccalaureate. This is the equivalent of an American high school diploma.
The collège technique (technical college) awards the baccalauréat technique (technical diploma) which is the equivalent of the senior level. The secondary system consists of 700 general education secondary schools and 80 lycées or classical secondary institutions. Madagagasr also has a well established tertiary (university) system, Institutions of higher education include: the Universite d'Antananarivo, Universite de Mahajanga, Universite de Toamasina, and others. About 5 percent of the children go on to university studies.
We see Malagasy children wearing svhool unirorms consisting of smocks. We are not sure how common uniforms were. We have few images of Malagasy schools. We see children wearing shirt school smocks at a private school in 1971 here (figure 1). We note children at a state school wearing green chcked smocks in the 2010s. The smocks for boys and girls were a little different.
Attendance falls away after the mandatory years. Some 36 percent of the children continue their secondaty studies, which is fairly high by African standards.
Madagascar's education system has been a a political issue of some importance, primarily because of tribal dufferences. his tends to be reue throughout Africa. Madagascar has a relativly small rivate sector. Many middle-class jobs are in the state sector And here educational qualifications are vital to qulaify. The availability of educational resources thus is a matter of some political impact. At issue is the inequitable availability of education.
Madagascar has historically had experienced an unequal distribution of education resources among the country's various regins. Madagascar's central highlands is where modern schools were first established (early-19th century). And the central highlands has continued to have both more schools and higher educational standards than the coastal regions. And this disparity has continued even after independence. The Merina and the Betsileo peoples dominating the central highlands as a result tend to be overrepresented in the civil service. nd this is also notable among the professions. This was the case during the French colonial period as well as the modern independence era.
Malagasy politicans complain that the counry's schools are not reaching the poor. The riots that begin by university students led to the collpse of the Tsiranana regime (1979). They were protesting government education and language policies. Especially contentious were the newly established competitive examination system. It would have based access to state secondary schools on merit rather than the family's income. THe Ratsiraka regime attempted to correct historical inequalities and made standards for the baccalauréat lower in the disadvantaged provinces outside the capital region (1978). Merina students led riots against what they perceived as an inherently unfair preferential treatment policy.
A major factor in both access to education and how well one performs in the schools is the lack of French language proficency. Madagascar is officially bilingual. The problem is that a 1994 estimate suggested that mere 20,000-30,000 Malgassy citizens were actually fluent in the French language. Another 2 million citizens had at best achuieved a high school-level competence in the language. Most Malagasys (8 to 9 million people) speak only Malagasy. Thus most of the country find themselves at a disadvantage in terms of educational opportunities and achievement. Poor French-language fluency appears to be the primary reason that some 90 percent of first-year university students do not advance to the second year. The problem is the number of books with Malagassy translations are limited. Not speaking French or other European languages significantly limits ones access to information.
Since independence, a strong and vibrant and growing private school system has developed in Madagascar. Many observers are conceerned about a growing disparity between the standards of the state and public system. Researchers confirm substantial differences in standards between the state and private schools. [Lassibille and Tan] President Ratsiraka pursued an education policy that he called Malagachization. This strengthened the two-track education system (1980s). The elite and prosperous middle class enroll their children in private French-language schools give them a huge educational advantage. The vast majority of the population enroll their children in the public schools with lower academic standards, especially French proficency. A 1991-92 academic year study found that less than 6,000 children were enrolled in private French-language primary ad secodary schools--the country's most prestigious schools. The second tier of private schools were the Roman Catholic schools, a parochial system which also had French language instruction. There was a third tier of private students were enrolled in a third tier of private schools which are generally seen as having French-language standards that are mediocre. The vast majority of Malagasy children (some 1.6 million) attend the public school system.
The Madagscar Governmnt's steady expansion of the country's educational opportunities has had an impressive impact on Malagasy society. It has substantially increased the literacy rate of the population. It has increased from 39 percent (1966) to 50 percent (1980), and 80 percent (1991). [UNICCF]
Recent education reforms have sought to make a major shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered methods.
Lassibille, Gérard and Jee Tan. "Student learning in public and private primary schools in Madagascar, "Economic Development and Cultural Change Vol. 51, No. 3 (May 2003).
UNICEF
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