Improving education quality in Madagascar

Madagascar saw an improvement in its education system during the first decade of 2000: the number of children in school rose from 2 to 4.3 million, there was a 25% increase in the number of establishments, and the primary completion rate gained 7 points to reach 60%.

The situation has, unfortunately, suffered from the institutional crisis of 2009. 80% of primary teachers are currently recruited and paid by parents. Parental charges are heavy and are one of the causes of the high school dropout rate. In rural areas, this situation is exacerbated by the massive recruitment of untrained community teachers to fill the vacant positions (estimated at 75,000 in 2014). The lack of well-trained teachers, combined with the lack of teaching materials, makes it particularly difficult to fulfil the mission of providing quality teaching to students in overcrowded classes.