Madagascar’s Education Crisis: A System on the Edge

This story by Jimmy Andriatsimialina originally appeared on Global Voices   on October 28, 2025. 

Education in Madagascar has faced severe challenges over the last 20 years. From primary school through university, too many students struggle to acquire basic skills, and the system provides limited support to teachers. Poor infrastructure, a lack of materials, difficult learning environments, and a severe shortage of teachers compound to create a system where young people are not getting adequate education.

Furthermore, many children leave school without basic literacy skills, and graduates often experience underemployment, which threatens long-term economic and social decline. Additionally, many skilled students opt to migrate abroad, further depleting the national talent pool and perpetuating the education crisis.

Broken foundations

The root of the trouble begins in primary school. According to World Bank data from 2025, only 66.6 percent of girls and 60.6 percent of boys in Madagascar complete primary school, while the world average is 88.3 percent. This rate continues to drop as children age, with a gross enrollment rate in secondary education of 36 percent for girls and 34 percent for boys, and a gross enrollment rate in tertiary education of only six percent across genders.

Many who remain in school do not reach expected learning outcomes. According to a press release from the World Bank, only 25 percent of children in Madagascar are able to read proficiently upon finishing primary school. The report also noted a high repetition rate of 25.3 percent in public schools, which is twice the Sub-Saharan Africa average.

This can partly be attributed to a high reliance on underqualified community teachers (FRAM, short for Fikambanan'ny ray aman-drenin'ny mpianatra), according to the Education Solidarity Network. The local parent associations recruit and pay teachers when the government cannot. Even though these teachers are vital to the system since they are still better than having no teachers at all, they are often under-resourced. Around 60 percent of the primary and preschool teaching workforce in the country were headed by FRAMs in 2024. Most of them are unqualified and lack the most basic skills to teach.

In Madagascar, the pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR) in primary education is 39.81, meaning that on average, there is one teacher for roughly 40 primary school students. This is slightly lower than the average PTR in primary school for low-income countries, which is 41.92.

On top of that, infrastructure is critically lacking. In some secluded parts of the country, there are often no schools at all, or only one three-classroom school for a rural area with hundreds of children. Recurring natural disasters like cyclones destroy 1,000–2,000 classrooms each year, making it challenging to maintain infrustructure.

The country invests only 2.8 percent to 3 percent of its GDP in education, and only 0.1 percent in research, which is below the regional average of 3.7 percent and about 5 percent in high-income countries. Schools must operate with damaged roofs, missing textbooks, and crowded classrooms. The World Bank has warned about the urgent need for investment in education in Madagascar.

A strain on higher education

Universities also face structural challenges. About 70 percent of courses are taught by non-civil servant faculty — many of whom have dealt with years of unpaid salaries. This has caused course suspensions, sometimes lasting several months. Teachers, maintenance workers, and students are promised salaries and scholarships, and though they are largely insufficient to meet people’s needs, the colleges often fail to deliver them altogether, leaving students and employees destitute. Numerous protests have broken out over these unpaid dues, further disrupting people’s education.

See Also: Samrat Choudhary Dodged the Question about his Educational Qualifications; Got Angry at Journalist for Asking About his Class 10 Certificate

In May 2024, demonstrations erupted at ESPA (Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique d’Antananarivo) and other public universities across the country. Students demanded payment of delayed scholarships and repairs to infrastructure: unsafe dormitories, inconsistent water supplies, and unstable internet are just a few of the infrastructure challenges they face.

New campuses are opening in regions that lack sufficient faculty, laboratories, or libraries. Expansion often prioritizes access over quality.

These actions reflect the long-lasting and growing frustration with systemic neglect of the education sector. This, in combination with other government failures, spurred the events of September 25, 2025, that led to the impeachment of Andry Rajoelina on October 14, 2025.

From learning to employment?

Today’s graduates face one of the continent’s highest youth unemployment rates. Youth ages 15–30 account for 70 percent of the unemployed; most of those who find employment do so outside their field: engineers take taxi jobs, biologists work as clerks, and teachers seek informal income.

Hasina, armed with a Master I degree in Domestic and International Public Law and a Master II in Political Science, intended to become a Diplomatic or Consular Officer. Instead, she works as a versatile assistant in a construction startup, juggling accounting, HR, and administrative tasks. She told Global Voices:

After passing a written test and an interview for a position at a foreign embassy in Madagascar, she was turned away due to what she presumed was her lack of experience. She emphasizes that opportunities for graduates are alarmingly scarce. She points out that many young people hesitate to seek out opportunities.

Another young man, aged 26, speaking anonymously, explained in an interview with Global Voices:

Hasina warns that the value of higher education is rapidly eroding as graduates struggle to find jobs, leading society to dismiss their hard-earned degrees. She asserts that we must create more opportunities and foster a culture of excellence from an early age.

This mismatch drives many to study or work abroad. Thousands leave each year for France, Canada, Mauritius, and other countries, seeking stability and better prospects, leading to severe brain drain.

Governance and institutional challenges

Part of the difficulty lies in institutional structures. There is a lack of transparency in both the recruitment and promotion processes, which extends to the highest levels of government, impacting both teachers and administrators. Corruption and nepotism have deep roots in every public institution in the country.

Madagascar scored 26 out of 100 and ranked 140th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). In the education sector, issues such as illegal school fees, the sale of exam papers, and favoritism in teacher recruitment are widespread. Surveys indicate that about 40 percent of people have witnessed or experienced corruption in schools, with one-third of students encountering cases of sexual misconduct. These practices hinder access to education for the poor and degrade the quality of teaching, ultimately harming the country’s growth prospects.

The system’s limitations are a consequence of long-term policy and budgetary decisions. The political crisis in 2009 disrupted administrative capacity, and although subsequent governments introduced reforms, significant systemic issues remain.

Pathways forward

Experts have outlined several key priorities: increasing funding for global standards, hiring and training teachers, and formalizing the roles of qualified FRAM staff. Universities should focus on improving faculty support and infrastructure, increasing allowances, and enhancing research capacity. By raising the percentage of qualified teachers, Madagascar can significantly improve quality-adjusted educational attainment, which, in turn, would contribute to real GDP per capita growth.

Education is essential for development. The children studying today can be the foundation of a future, more prosperous Madagascar, as long as they are given adequate support and opportunities to thrive.

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