A NEW SCHOOL
FOR FIADANANA
Schools in Madagascar
Schools in villages in Madagascar are traditionally one-story buildings with
one or two rooms. A single teacher teaches all students in a room. Teachers
either live in the community, or walk there for a neighboring community. The
teachers salaries, often in the form of rice and housing, are commonly provided
by a village community. While it is the declared goal of the Malagasy government
to provide schooling for all children there are still many villages without
a school, especially in remote areas. The picture shows a typical village school
building as found anywhere in the country.
Picture: A typical school in a village in Madagascar
on the other web page
The current school attendance in Fiadanana
There are currently 150 children 5-15 years old and 550 children under 5 in
Fiadanana. 27 of the children attend a public school in Ambohibary. In the
dry season this is a 2km (1.25 miles) walk each way, crossing a river along
the way. In the rainy season (that lasts five months,) children have to walk
for almost 15 km (9.3 miles) to cross the river at the bridge. Consequently
they miss school during the rainy season. 10 children walk from Fiadanana to
Ambatomitsanganas public school, more than 2 km away. The teacher is already
overstretched teaching all the students in this village, so the capacity for
additional students from Fiadanana is limited. Some of the parents had taken
the initiative and hired a teacher from neighboring Bevato to teach their 33
children in Fiadanana. They had been using the Catholic Church building, but
this option is no longer available. The children not attending school stay
in the village and have nothing to do and are often left on their own.
Picture: The Catholic Church building in Fiadanana on the other web page
What would a school in Fiadanana mean for
the village?
In the last community meeting in November 2005 a villager donated the
land where the school will be built. Located a 5 minute walk from the
village, it
is at the northern edge of the village, an auspicious and ideal location
for a learning center in Malagasy culture.
Picture of new schoolgrounds on the other web
page
Giving Fiadananas youth access to schooling in their own community
for the first time will have a long lasting transformative impact
on the community.
Zahana will use a participatory learning approach, with Zahana representatives
and teachers learning from the villagers as they learn from their
counterparts. The scope of the school will go beyond traditional primary
education
for school
age youth, providing tailor made education that addresses the needs
of younger children and adults alike.
The Plan - Building the new school
Building a school or the rural university for teaching children
and adults will require a proper building as well as outdoor education
areas. A simple
bamboo fence, envisioned becoming a living fence over time, with
fruit trees and medicinal plants will surround the premises. There
will be
a water hand
pump and a solar water pasteurizer for clean, safe drinking water
next to the building. The school grounds are big enough to accommodate
a
school garden.
Oriented on what people know the educational building will have
at least two rooms. The smaller room will be the more traditional
school
building
with benches
for the school age youth and bigger room will serve as a multi-purpose
room for both, children under five years of age and adults alike.
Simple, but effective,
innovative ideas will be included in its architectural design.
Clear plastic instead of corrugated iron in parts of the schools
roof
serve as a skylight
on rainy days, when the windows will have to be kept closed. Mosquito
nets in the windows (glass is not used anywhere in villages) will
help protect
from the dangers of malaria.
An additional pavilion with an improved cook stove for nutritional
classes will need to be built on the school grounds. A separate
building with
4 waterless toilets and a bathing room is located at the lowest
point of
the school grounds,
far away from the water pump. Such innovative s designs, based
on sound public health concepts, will introduce improved ideas
of commonly
used
facilities
to the community by example.
Funding needs
As with the water, the community will actively be involved in building
this school. The villagers will provide as much as they can, by
making the bricks
needed locally and contributing their labor to erect the school
and other buildings. Zahana will have to find the funding to provide
and pay for
the roofing materials,
wooden beams, doors, windows, nails, furniture and other goods
that
cannot be obtained locally.
Zahana has committed to assist with the hiring and training of
the teacher and pay her or his salary for the first two years.
After
this initial
phase, providing for the teachers will become the communitys responsibility.
Young children and the rural university
Based on the villagers feedback a school is needed for the younger
children (before school age) where they learn basic life skills,
such as how to
interact socially and politely with others and basic public health
knowledge like washing
hands before eating as well as having a space to just be a kid
and play.
The name rural university has been chosen on purpose for older
students and adults alike. Most of them would never dream of
attending a university
and
the name will instill pride. It will become a place where people
can improve their knowledge in a setting that goes beyond the
traditional secondary
education offered in the state run school system. Fattening of
cattle was a priority
identified by the villagers. Such a topic needs to be included
in the
rural universitys curriculum, as are other issues relating to
farming, income
generation and health education. Protein deficiency, as a result
of malnutrition is a
major health concern for Fiadananas children. The cooking pavilion,
as an extension of the rural university, will provide hands-on
nutritional education
for parents and young mothers.
Teachers and curriculum
A specially trained and motivated teacher for Fiadanana is required.
She or he will be able to integrate concepts like project based
learning and
orient
the curriculum on the village reality while including the requirements
of basic education provided at state schools. Creating a school
as a laboratory for
alternative styles of learning is an important component of
this pilot project for rural development. Zahana will be actively
involved in
hiring and training
of the future teacher.
|