School activities support project

The idea to set up the project to support school activities in Madagascar stemmed from the observation of the low level of education and the high number of school drop-outs by students in the poorest sections of the population, especially in rural areas and the deep south; this is due both to economic problems (public and private schooling has a cost for families) and to the lack of attachment to the work of many teachers (who are often underpaid), most of whom have a low level of preparation (many of them do not know French); moreover, due to contingent needs, many children are forced to work, and their families have a structural lack of interest in education; on the other hand, there is the awareness that investing in the training and health of a population means guaranteeing freedom and opportunities for growth, development of the person and the community as a whole, starting with children. The feasibility of the idea has begun to find application since the meeting with Sandra, Imo and Anna Maria. The first two have lived and worked for several years in Madagascar, one in Antananarivo, the other in Toliara, which is about 1000 km south of the capital. Sandra follows agricultural projects in some rural villages near Antananarivo in collaboration with the association “Loharano“, Imo instead gave life, together with Yvette, her Malagasy companion, to a sports association with the aim of taking off the street the children of their neighborhood (Antavaravay Salimo), one of the poorest and most degraded of Toliara. The association, which also provides an education for the children, has been called “Radler“, in memory of Yvette’s son, who died at the age of 19. Anna Maria lives and works in Turin, where she teaches medical and cultural anthropology at the local University, but she is also actively involved in volunteer work in Africa with “Prati-care“, the non-profit organization of which she is president. Talking with them about the problems and needs of the Malagasy population, the idea has taken shape to support the health project with a project to support school activities, starting from the realities in which Sandra and Imo move and work. The project is articulated on three guidelines, and precisely:

school building, through the renovation or construction of classrooms on regularly authorized projects
teacher training, through courses held by expatriate personnel
financial support for teachers, by paying all or part of their salaries

With this project we achieve two other important objectives, in the local economy:

to guarantee at least one meal a day for the children
to obtain a reduction in skin and intestinal diseases, thanks to the use of water for washing hands and the use, where possible and foreseen, of showers.

So far we have largely financed the construction of 4 classrooms in the secondary school in the village of Antsahanadrisa in the region of Itasy, Province of Antananarivo in collaboration with the association Loharano, the construction of 4 classrooms in the primary school in the Antaravay Salimo district of Toliara in collaboration with the association Radler. We have also purchased a 10,000 m² plot of land on which we are building a semi-residential college for secondary school students in Toliara. We are also contributing to the payment of a substantial part of the salaries of the teachers of the two schools and we have already carried out three pedagogical-didactic training courses for teachers and headmasters of primary and secondary schools, held by Dr. Anna Maria Fantauzzi.

updated on December 30, 2019

Piero Petricca