UNICEF and the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Madagascar sign a cooperation agreement to strengthen support for the transformation of the education system in Madagascar so that every child can access quality learning.
In Madagascar, only 23 per cent of children aged 7 to 14 possess adequate reading skills and 7 per cent, adequate numeracy skills. This partnership will support the Malagasy government's efforts to improve access to quality education.
Antananarivo, March 4, 2025 – The signing of the cooperation agreement between UNICEF and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Madagascar marks a new step toward the shared goal of enabling every child in Madagascar to benefit from quality education and develop their full potential.
The partnership between the two organizations has been established for a period of three years to bring about tangible and sustainable improvements in basic learning in Madagascar. This partnership follows on from a previous three-year agreement, established in December 2020, which helped improve the effectiveness of the programme focused on catch-up classes.
In fact, in terms of education, only 7 per cent of children aged 7 to 14 have basic math skills and 23 per cent have basic reading skills. In addition, school dropout rates remain high: 22.2 per cent at the primary level and 20 per cent at the middle school level.
The shortage of well-trained teachers exacerbates learning disparities. Only 25.7 per cent of primary school teachers and 36.5 per cent of secondary school teachers have a teaching degree[1].
These challenges are further exacerbated by frequent disruptions caused by emergencies, including cyclones and floods. This situation requires additional efforts to strengthen the resilience and accessibility of schools in Madagascar. Data from the Bureau national de gestion des risques et des catastrophes (BNGRC, the national disaster management agency) in 2024 shows that nearly 3,700 classrooms in public schools were destroyed by cyclones over the past three years, and more than 3,750 have been damaged.
This partnership thus covers several aspects such as school retention and support to re-enrollment of out-of-school children, training primary school teachers in effective teaching methods, in particular the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, strengthening the role of school management committees (FEFFI in Malagasy) and learning monitoring, intensifying and disseminating best practices, and supporting the Ministry of National Education in monitoring and evaluation of joint projects. It will target nearly 4,489,353 children and 107,944 teachers from 27,803 public primary schools in 23 regions of Madagascar.
“This partnership is a strategic commitment to sustainable, high-quality change in education and will have a positive impact on the lives of communities, children and their families,” said Christine Jaulmes, the UNICEF Representative.
“This partnership will help spread the results of the TAFITA project throughout Madagascar and contribute to education for all Malagasy children,” said Kaori Tanaka, the Resident Representative of JICA in Madagascar.
[1] Annuaire statistique 2024-2025, ministère de l’Éducation nationale (MEN) (2024).
