The Sacrificed Generation: Youth, History, and the Colonized Mind in Madagascar

Appendix 4. Schools in Ambanja and the Sambirano Valley

appendix four Schools in Ambanja and the Sambirano Valley 297 Primary (primaire) Middle School (collège) High School (lycée) classes: 11ème–7ème 6ème–3ème seconde, primière, terminale equivalent grades in the U.S.: 1st–5th 6th–9th 10th–12th Public State-run: * in town: 6 1 2 * regional, within the valley: 4 6 0 Six neighborhood schools in Ambanja; four others are scattered throughout the valley (the county or fivondronana) placed for the most part on plantation lands to serve the needs of workers’ children. Primary education for Malagasy children in Ambanja began in the colonial era with the first school Ambanja has 1 CEG; another 6 are scattered throughout the valley, typically 20-30 km apart. 2 others shut down in 1990 for lack of State funding. Ambanja’s CEG is the largest and best staffed in the region. No. of students: approx. 400 in Ambanja. Lycée Tsiaraso I (also referred to as the Lycée Mixte because it is co-ed). First classes held in 1986–87; a smaller lycée had existed previously and opened around 1980. No. of students: shrinking over time from 300 to 145. Cost: As with the CEG, beginning with the 1994–5 academic year, 298 appendix four A small Technical School is located at the outskirts of town and serves students from throughout the valley, as well as from the neighboring counties (fivondronana) of Ambilobe and Nosy Be. No. of students: approx. 80. Cost: unreported [assumed similar to the lycée]. [In 1987 there was also an Agricultural School about a half-hour drive from Ambanja; by 1993 it had closed.] being built in 1908. It then expanded significantly in the 1970s under President Ratsiraka, but by the mid-1980s several small village schools in the Sambirano were closed because of budgetary constraints. No. of students: approx. 800 alone in the town’s largest primary school. Estimate for the entire valley: 12,500. Cost: none, save for basic school supplies. Estimate for the entire valley: 1,450. Cost: Beginning with the 1994–5 academic year, each student was charged fmg 2,500 plus fmg 3,000 for the services of a parentteacher association and for miscellaneous operating costs, plus fmg 100 for institutional insurance. Prior to 1994, middle school education was free, save for basic school supplies. each student was charged fmg 5,000 plus fmg 3,000 for a parentteacher association and for miscellaneous operating costs, plus fmg 100 for institutional insurance. Primary (primaire) Middle School (collège) High School (lycée) Public (continued) * in town: 2 1 1 * regional, within the valley: 1 1 1 Foreign: ⁽elite⁾ schools in ambanja and the sambirano valley 299 Primary (primaire) Middle School (collège) High School (lycée) Private: Licensed French Elementary School. This primary school also includes a kindergarten. In operation since the mid-1980s. Established through the efforts of the town’s foreign and highland elite in order to satisfy the educational needs they had identified for their own young children. It is staffed primarily by foreign nationals, especially by university students from France. Some instructors are Malagasy. No. of students: approx. 75. Cost: fmg 25,000 in 1993–4, by 1994–5 fmg 37,500 x 10 months. French citizens receive a discount so that they pay approximately half the amount charged for the children of Malagasy citizens. Catholic: 300 appendix four Primary (primaire) Middle School (collège) High School (lycée) Private: Licensed (continued) Catholic Mission Academy. This school also has a kindergarten. Primary school in operation since 1938. No. of students: approx 1,300. Cost: fmg 4,000 x 10 months. Catholic School of the Upper Sambirano (CSUP). Located approximately 25 km southeast of Ambanja in the region referred to as the upper Sambirano Valley. A sister school of Ambanja’s Catholic Academy, it serves almost exclusively children from this more isolated region. No. of students at primary level: unknown, but considerably smaller than Ambanja’s Catholic Academy. Cost: approx. the same as Ambanja’s Catholic Academy. The Academy’s middle school opened in the 1950s. No. of students: approx. 550. Cost: fmg 6,000 x 10 months. No. of students at middle school: unknown, but considerably smaller than Ambanja’s Catholic Academy. Cost: approx. the same as Ambanja’s Catholic Academy. The Academy introduced a terminale class in 1979. No. of students: under 200. Cost: fmg...