Madagascar’s Education Dilemma: Why More Schools Don’t Always Mean Better Education in Madagascar

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

I do not do politics, nor do I want to. I just feel responsible for anything that would impact the development of Madagascar, especially the education system.
Madagascar has 99 problems, and education is one of them.

A few years ago, I wanted to be an influencer on Facebook, posting positive messages to the public and trying to outnumber the negative and purely entertaining posts. But I did not achieve much. I also found that Facebook is good, but people do not really stay for long posts. Explaining complex topics requires long writing, so Facebook is not a good fit for me. That is why this blog was born.

I started writing blogs using a free WordPress website. Later, I saved money and tried to hire a developer to create my own blog, but it was too expensive. So, I turned to YouTube, consumed countless tutorial videos, and learned how to create websites myself. So far, I have created 8 websites, including this one, and people even hire me to build their brand websites.

I have covered many different topics, but one of my recent posts was about the school system in Madagascar. It can be read here: Blog. I wrote about the fact that the government and local communities rushing to build new schools in almost every village is not really the best strategy to solve Madagascar’s education problem. I explained why, even though I knew my perspective was controversial. I wrote it on my own blog. As always, I am not expecting many people to read it, but if you are one of the readers, I appreciate you. Please interact with me via email (candidierbartox@gmail.com) or on Facebook (Candidier Dimbiarijaonina) to share your ideas. I am open to new perspectives. It is okay if you disagree with me. I am here to learn from you too.

After posting that blog two months ago, an old friend—whom I still consider a friend because we have known each other for a long time when she worked in Madagascar—reached out. She and her NGO work on many projects, including social development, school construction, and environmental education. She was intrigued by my blog and DMed me on Facebook. She was a bit shocked by my perspective, but she is very open-minded and respected my ideas. I know she was not convinced by what I wrote, but she told me she respected my perspective. Most importantly, she emphasized that every school they build is next to an existing one. They either improve the existing school or add another classroom next to the old one. In a way, she proved my point, and I think her approach aligns with what I believe is best.

Now, as we work in the field of conservation and tree restoration efforts in Ambanitaza, I have met amazing local people who inspire me every day. They give me hope for a better environment and community, as they willingly participate in the conservation project supported by the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation. I am grateful to be involved in this project, to the Duke Lemur Center, and also to its Director, James Herrera.

Yesterday, I overheard a group in the community discussing the school system in Madagascar, especially in their village—Andasilava, Commune of Ampahana, District of Antalaha. I arrived in the middle of their conversation and could not join in, but afterward, I asked for an interview with Delphin, now a leading farmer from Andasilava. I asked him about his perspective on education, the challenges they face, their causes, and possible solutions. He had previously presided over the Students’ Parents Association.

Their conversation reminded me of the importance of listening to the grassroots—the local communities—about the real issues, rather than rushing to impose solutions. Sometimes, what seems like a solution can ironically worsen the problem it is supposed to solve. In this case, the main issue they discussed was that too many schools in their area caused disruption and left teachers unpaid.

As I said, this is exactly what has been happening in many rural areas and schools across northern Madagascar—even in towns. I first decided to write about this issue when our mayoral candidate launched his campaign in one of the villages in our commune. He promised to open a new secondary school in that village. But we already have one in the main commune, where all nine villages send their children. Opening a new one would only disrupt enrollment in the existing secondary school, because there are already not enough students to cover teachers’ salaries.

So here follows the full transcription of the interview. The analysis of this data will be published in the next couple of days, along with graphs and visuals to better present the results of this study.

CANDIDIER: Your conversation intrigued me when I showed up here. You talked about school in Madagascar. I have written about it in my blog—I said at that time that the government or NGOs should not rush to open new schools in each village, but rather improve existing schools, because those schools face huge challenges. Also, school attendance is very low. So, I would like to ask you to repeat what you said during your conversation because it was not recorded. My first question is: What is your name? Where do you live? What responsibilities have you held in your village? As I said, you can trust me, and I will make sure this interview respects your privacy and that nothing will happen to you—also, we have worked together for a long time. This will not send you to prison. I will not share your information [even though I will post it in my blog, I will change your name to protect your identity]. Rather, this will be published in my blog as research so it could impact and improve the education system in Madagascar. People can watch and read it. Also, there is a “Vazaha” who has been intrigued by such an idea [with my previous blog]. Her name is Joey. They built schools in Ankavia axis, Antalaha district, and they renovated a building at Boulevard Maritime EPP school. I do not know if you have seen the newly renovated building. Their NGO renovated it. So my first question is, where are you from and what responsibilities have you held in your community?

DELPHIN: You ask my full name?

CANDIDIER: Even just your first name.

DELPHIN: My name is Delfin. First, when I left school, I was the president of Club d'Enfant in our community and I educated children in church. Then I became president of FRAM [Students' Parent Association that contributes to the funding of schools]. While I was president of FRAM, I worried about the school functioning, because there was a huge problem that our school faced at that time.

CANDIDIER: Where exactly do you live?

DELPHIN: I live in Andasilava, fokontany of Ampobe. Regarding the fee contribution to school, we set the fee high, but parents could not afford it. And if we lowered it, we could not pay teachers’ salaries. I wondered what was the main reason for this problem. Then I realized it was because of the distribution of schools in each section of the villages. In my opinion, I was convinced that the government opening new schools in other sections of the village was the main cause of teacher salary arrears and non-payment. Because when we attended that school, there were almost 400 pupils. When those villages received schools, the number of pupils decreased. It dropped to 80–100 children. The education minister argued teachers should teach just one class only.

CANDIDIER: One teacher, one class.

DELPHIN: Yes. For example, one teacher teaches CP1 class, another teaches CP2, then CM1, CM2. The government wants it that way. But now we cannot afford to pay many teachers. We now have 3 teachers, and only one of them is paid by the government. The FRAM pays the other two. Their number does not yet increase to 9, [we still struggle to pay their salaries].

CANDIDIER: Only 3 teachers, and their salaries are already unpaid?

DELPHIN: Yes, their salaries are already unpaid. So I told the school administration that the idea of building schools in each village makes parents happy because their children do not have to go far to reach school, but there is a consequence. I do not know if you agree with that, but when I have an opportunity to talk to your superior, I will inform them about that. The negative impact of too many schools is on the teachers who are paid by FRAM, because parents cannot afford to pay. For example, their salary is 120,000 Ar per month, but the children are only 80. There are three teachers they must pay, so there is no possibility, as the school fees are not proportional to the salaries of the teachers.

CANDIDIER: How much are the school fees each year?

DELPHIN: I do not have a child at that school as mine has already passed her CEPE, but this year, I heard that it is 15,000 Ar per child and 15,000 Ar per parent.

CANDIDIER: Which means, suppose I have 4 children?

DELPHIN: You must pay 75,000 Ar in total. So it is painful for parents who cannot afford that amount. I am not saying I can easily afford it, but from my perspective, it impacts the teachers paid by FRAM and the existence of too many schools.

CANDIDIER: You have told us the school fees are unaffordable for the parents. Also, you said that when the number of children attending the school was high [the teacher was paid enough]. Meaning the existence of schools in other sections of the village is the main cause. The school enrollment is very low.

DELPHIN: The reason why it is low is because of unaffordability. Also, there are many children who cannot go to school because their parents were not able to pay fees last year. In the last couple of years, the number of children who could go to school increased by more than 30. I do not know if this was maybe because of lack of awareness or lack of incentivization. I have suggested to the school district representative to help us raise awareness about school enrollment. Until now, they have not started with this program. The people in the same village will never succeed in convincing parents to send their children to school, because they do not value their messages.

CANDIDIER: That is very sad. The first school built in the fokontany of Ampobe was in Andasilava.

DELPHIN: The second school was in Ampobe.

CANDIDIER: Where else has schools?

DELPHIN: Masindrano.

CANDIDIER: Where else?

CANDIDIER: Betaomby and Tsaratanana.

DELPHIN: Which means schools already exist in 5 village sections. But those communities are close to each other.

CANDIDIER: When there was only one school in Andasilava, did the children have to walk back and forth to their village each day?

DELPHIN: They attended that school and there was no problem. The excuse they used to build a new school was because of flooding—from Ampobe to Andasilava. But there was a canoe to transport the children. That was their political reason to ask for a new school in their community. When we were children, we had classmates from Masindrano. They did not have difficulty.

CANDIDIER: But how far is the distance of each village from Andasilava?

DELPHIN: From Betaomby to Andasilava would take at least 15 minutes. Because I often walked to Betaomby for vaccinations.

CANDIDIER: Which means children can manage it?

DELPHIN: Of course. There are still children attending school in Andasilava from there this year.

CANDIDIER: What about Masindrano?

DELPHIN: From Masindrano to Andasilava takes 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the speed.

CANDIDIER: I am not kidding you with this question. Even though I have been to most of those villages, I want to make sure I ask local people who know exactly the place. I went to those places but we walked so slowly and did not know exactly how long it took to reach each village from Andasilava. Masindrano to Andasilava would take 30 minutes or 1 hour? Ampobe to Andasilava is about 5 minutes, we all know.

DELPHIN: Yes, 30 minutes if you walk a little bit faster. And Ampobe to Andasilava is a 3-minute walk. It is just separated by a wetland.

CANDIDIER: All the children would not face difficulty attending school in Andasilava.

DELPHIN: They would not face difficulty nor starve on the road. We even used to go to Andrapengy for school. We woke up early in the morning and were dismissed at 11:30, then went back home. We could arrive quickly, but sometimes spent time playing on the road. We attended school in Andrapengy.

CANDIDIER: Regarding that situation, what do you think is the best way to improve education in Madagascar? You have mentioned certain causes of declining education. I feel responsible and would like to bring change to the system, but I am not going to do politics like, “Oh, I will run for such a position.” That is not what I want to do. Rather, I want to write blogs and publish them on social media so that, if one day people start to notice what I do, they can read my ideas on my website. Maybe someone disagrees with me, maybe someone hesitates or wonders if my ideas are true. That is what I am interested in. So here I would like to ask you: What is the best solution to improve education?

DELPHIN: What I think is the best way to improve education in Madagascar is what I was about to tell the Chief of School Enrollment. I told him that we believed if the government hired teachers, we would pay less school fees to cover their salaries. But in reality, that is not the case. Every teacher who is paid by the government is transferred to another place. I recall there were many teachers who passed through here. I can name Bekosy Lemic, who taught here when he left Andranotsara and Andrapengy, then Kalo Christine, Mahatombo, and finally Honore. When all of them were integrated into the government payroll, they left us. Why? He said it was because the number of students enrolled in the school decreased. I murmured that the reason why enrollment decreased was because of unpaid teachers’ salaries. I did not tell him directly. Therefore, the effective solution to solve the problem, so that no teachers’ salaries remain unpaid, is that the government should hire all the teachers and pay them. Then parents, for example, would only pay the Pascoma.

CANDIDIER: What is Pascoma?

DELPHIN: It is the parents' obligation as health insurance for the children. Once they get injured during the school year, the money is used for treatment. Parents can afford that and even contribute to the purchase of chalk. If all the teachers were hired by the government, parents would not have difficulty even though the number of schools increases. Unfortunately, most teachers now are not paid by the government. Only parents try to pay them, but they have no money. Hire them—that would improve the situation.

CANDIDIER: What about increasing the school enrollment rate? What do you think is the solution to improve enrollment or encourage parents to let their children stay in school longer? Because now we see that school-age children, 12 or 13 years old, leave school. When they tell their parents, “Papa, I want to quit school,” the parents no longer argue. Is it truly because of the expensive fees, or is there anything else that should be addressed?

DELPHIN: In general, I think first it is because of the fees, then the ignorance of us parents. That is why I would say there should be a representative to help us raise awareness about school enrollment.

CANDIDIER: That is what you said before. You suggest a representative from the school district enrollment office or what?

DELPHIN: Yes. They said it should be done by every representative from the government. Like you now, when they come to a village—whether they are gendarmes or others—they can talk and ask parents to raise awareness. That was the training we received. I would like to see this happen in every village to encourage parents to send their children to school and to fight against premature school abandonment. What you said is right—girls quit school very early.

CANDIDIER: Thank you. This marks the end of our conversation. Thank you very much for your time.