Education and Training in Madagascar: Toward a Policy Agenda for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction. A World Bank Country Study.

Overview & Synopsis

Madagascar is a poor, primarily rural country in which three-quarters of the population has subsisted below the poverty line for at least two decades. In view of the important role of education in the government's poverty reduction agenda, this report documents the current status of educational development in Madagascar and the key constraints on the performance of the educational sector. Chapters examine: (1) demography and macroeconomic context; (2) access to and coverage of the education system; (3) education finance (national spending, patterns of public spending per student); (4) disparities and inequities in enrollments, patterns of student flow, and public spending; (5) primary and secondary education (supply and demand, teacher recruitment and allocation, small schools and economies of scale, learning outcomes, decentralization); (6) vocational and technical education and training; (7) higher education; and (8) education and the labor market. Major challenges include high elementary dropout and grade repetition rates; deteriorating levels of labor force skills; mismatch between education and available jobs; great inequities in education spending across income groups, education levels, and provinces; patterns of teacher allocation that disadvantage rural schools and certain provinces; inefficiencies related to poorly managed small schools with overspecialized teachers; and the lack of an accountability system. (Contains 82 references and many data tables.) (SV)