Contents:
- General information and key indicators relevant to education
- The educational system
- Education in action
Accurate as of March 2013; unless indicated otherwise, the websites are all in English. Acknowledgement: Samira Jeanheraly.
General information and key indicators relevant to education
Madagascar in a nutshell
- Capital: Antananarivo
- Languages spoken: mainly Malagasy – French (Madagascar being a former French colony)
- Could be divided into 6 Main regions, 6 biggest cities where are located the major public schools (below listed): Diego Suarez – Tamatave – Majunga – Tulear – Fianaranstoa – Anstirabé
Statistics relating to education
See the data compiled by the UNESCO (as of 2010) and the data from UNICEF (up untill 2010).
The educational system
Information on the educational system from an historical point of view is available @ Wikipedia.
There are many public schools in Madagascar, the most renowned of which are the following:
- American School of Antananarivo @ASAMadagascar
- Russian Embassy School, since Madagascar was in the beginning of the 80s’ a communist country (closely linked then to China & Russia)
- Several French schools, Madagascar being a former French colony (See below) ISCAM (higher school education – international trade oriented) @ISCAM
The French primary & secondary schools in the main cities of Madagascar are the following:
- Antananarivo: the LFT (“Lycee Français de Tananarivo”, French secondary school of Antananarivo), including primary, junior and senior secondary stages, is the only school of the whole island where pupils can prepare the equivalent of the A Level (French Baccalaureat) @ EGD
- Anstirabé: the “Collège Français Jules Vernes” (the French Jules Vernes school) offers primary & junior secondary stages @ CFJV
- Toamasina: “Lycee Français de Tamatave” (the French secondary school of Taomasina) offers primary & junior secondary stages @ LFTamatave
- Mahajunga: Dolto school offers primary & junior secondary stages @ College Dolto
- Fianarantsoa: “Lycee Rene Cassin” offers primary & junior secondary stages @ lycee Rene Cassin
- Tulear: “College Etienne de Flacourt” offers primary & junior secondary stages @ College Tulear
Finally, here is a list of all the existing schools/universities in Madagacar, public and private: @ Sekoly.
According to Malagasy natives, the above-listed French and public schools’ tuition fees are expensive and only expatriates and a minority of Malagasy can afford them.
Education in action
There are many foreign and local NGOs actively operating in Madagascar, in particular the following:
- Agence Française de Développement (AFD) (in French): the French Development Agency is the major partner, if not the largest one, supporting NGOs and local organisations in Madagascar. Its ambition is to provide Malagasy people with education, through the “Education for All” plan;
- UNICEF (with a local branch in Antananarivo) is the second key actor in the education field in Madagascar. See @ UNICEF (1) and @ UNICEF (2);
- Ecoles du Monde (in French) (“Schools of the World”), a French NGO;
- Hope for Madagascar, an American NGO;
- “SOS village d’enfants” (in French; in English), a French Organisation;
- “ONG Bel Avenir”, a Spanish NGO part of the “Agua de Coco” network (see in Spanish; in French); and
- Défi Education Sudi (in French), a French NGO.
There are also very cool projects, including training programs:
- ABM PROJECT (“appui au bilinguisme”), initiated and led by the French Developpement Agency (see above), locally undertaken by the French Cooperation in Madagascar. This project is still under progress; and
- “MORE SCIENCE AT SCHOOL” and “La main à la pate Opération”: this is probably the first project dealing with continuing learning that promotes exclusively scientific activities. It involves the French NGO Défi Education Sud (see above) and a Malagasy organisation: “AVANCE”. Find out more at @ ONG Defi.
Finally, another cool project to build schools: @ Ecoles du monde.