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Madagascar Education
In traditional Madagascar, education was not seen as
separate
from the other spheres of life. It emphasized the
importance of
maintaining one's place in a hierarchical society, trained
people
in the proper observance of ritual and innumerable
fady
prohibitions, and, above all, taught respect for
ancestors.
Formal education in the modern sense first appeared when
the
missionary David Jones of the London Missionary Society
established a school in Antananarivo in 1820. It was
sponsored by
King Radama I, and Jones's first students were children of
the
royal family. Literacy spread as a result of the schools
the
Imerina missionaries built; in 1835 an estimated 15,000
persons
knew how to read and write the new Malagasy language.
Despite
significant retrenchment during the reign of Queen
Ranavalona I,
the missionary school system, including both Protestant
and Roman
Catholic institutions, continued to grow.
During the colonial period, the French established a
system
of public schools that was divided into two parts: elite
schools,
modeled after those of France and reserved for the
children of
French citizens (a status few Malagasy enjoyed); and
indigenous
schools for the Malagasy, which offered practical and
vocational
education but were not designed to train students for
positions
of leadership or responsibility. Middle-grade Malagasy
civil
servants and functionaries were trained at the écoles
régionales (regional schools), the most important of
which
was the École le Myre de Villers in Antananarivo. Reforms
of the
public school system designed to give the Malagasy more
educational opportunities were initiated after World War
II. At
independence in 1960, the country had a system of
education
almost identical to that of France.
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 baccalauréat (the equivalent of a high
school
diploma). A vocational secondary school system, the
collège
professionelle (professional college), is the
equivalent of
the junior secondary level; the collège technique
(technical college), which awards the baccalauréat
technique (technical diploma), is the equivalent of
the
senior level.
The University of Madagascar, established as an
Institute for
Advanced Studies in 1955 in Antananarivo and renamed in
1961, is
the main institute of higher education. It maintains six
separate, independent branches in Antananarivo,
Antsiranana,
Fianarantsoa, Toamasina, Toliara, and Mahajanga. (Prior to
1988,
the latter five institutions were provincial extensions of
the
main university in Antananarivo.) The university system
consists
of several faculties, including law and economics,
sciences, and
letters and human sciences, and numerous schools that
specialize
in public administration, management, medicine, social
welfare,
public works, and agronomy. Official reports have
criticized the
excessive number of students at the six universities: a
total of
40,000 in 1994, whereas the collective capacity is 26,000.
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. The
baccalauréat is required for admission to the
university.
Madagascar also has teacher-training colleges.
The gradual expansion of educational opportunities has
had an
impressive impact on Malagasy society, most notably in
raising
the literacy level of the general population. Only 39
percent of
the population could be considered literate in 1966, but
the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that
this
number had risen to 50 percent at the beginning of the
1980s and
to 80 percent in 1991. Similarly, primary school
enrollment is
nearly universal, a significant increase from the lower
figure of
65 percent enrollment in 1965 (Madagascar had 13,000
public
primary schools in 1994); 36 percent of the relevant
school-age
population attends secondary school (there were 700
general
education secondary schools and eighty lycées or
classical
secondary institutions) and 5 percent of the relevant
school-age
population attends institutions of higher learning.
Despite these
statistics, a 1993 UNICEF report considers the education
system a
"failure," pointing out that in contrast to the early
1980s when
education represented approximately 33 percent of the
national
budget, in 1993 education constituted less than 20 percent
of the
budget, and 95 percent of this amount was devoted to
salaries.
The average number of years required for a student to
complete
primary school was twelve. Girls have equal access with
boys to
educational institutions.
The national education system often has been at the
center of
political debate. As is the case throughout Africa,
educational
credentials provide one of the few opportunities to obtain
employment in a country with a limited private sector, and
the
distribution of educational resources has continued to be
an
issue with explosive political ramifications.
Historically, the system has been characterized by an
unequal
distribution of education resources among the different
regions
of the country. Because the central highlands had a long
history
of formal education beginning in the early nineteenth
century,
this region had more schools and higher educational
standards
than the coastal regions. The disparity continued to be a
major
divisive factor in national life in the years following
independence. The Merina and the Betsileo peoples, having
better
access to schools, inevitably tended to be overrepresented
in
administration and the professions, both under French
colonialism
and after independence in 1960.
Adding to these geographical inequities is the
continued lack
of educational opportunities for the poorest sectors of
society.
For example, the riots that led to the fall of the
Tsiranana
regime in 1972 were initiated by students protesting
official
education and language policies, including a decision to
revoke
the newly established competitive examination system that
would
have allowed access to public secondary schools on the
basis of
merit rather than the ability to pay. Yet when the
Ratsiraka
regime attempted in 1978 to correct historical
inequalities and
make standards for the baccalauréat lower in the
disadvantaged provinces outside the capital region, Merina
students led riots against what they perceived as an
inherently
unfair preferential treatment policy.
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
the
French language and that another 2 million citizens have
received, at best, a passive high school-level competence
in the
language. The vast majority (8 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.
Data as of August 1994
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