Home ImpactBlog Opportunities and Difficulties of Young Malagasy People

Opportunities and Difficulties of Young Malagasy People

Herinajaina
February 15, 2023

IMG_3487-1536x1152
In 2018, the population of Madagascar was estimated at 26 million. Approximately 42.5 percent of the population is younger than 15 years of age, while 54.5 percent are between the ages of 15 and 64. Those aged 65 and older form 3 percent of the total population. That means, young people take in a wide range of malagasy people. It seems like Madagascar has a bright future if it will profit from this opportunity.
rural_mahavelona_3-1536x989

Young Malagasy people are very familiar with education.They are smart and have a good attitude for learning but they have some difficulties in their study.

The lack of awareness about how important education has been a bad experience for Malagasy people. It is still acceptable and takes a large space in Malagasy society that studying for a long time is not really necessary. When you know how to calculate and how to read, that is enough for your life, especially in the rural areas.

In addition, the quality of education in Madagascar has to be improved because it is still too old. It is not compatible with the modern way of teaching.The school kits have never done an update to the newer tools and they are not enough. For example, the old equipment is still used at school such as the old books and the others but they are not interesting anymore and It is not motivating for the learners.

Young Malagasy people don’t have enough access to the new technology especially to the internet to search for something that we want to get more knowledge about because the mobile data or the Wi-Fi are very expensive and the mobile network is only working well in some parts of Madagascar especially in the city but not everywhere like in rural areas.

At last but not least, the lack of electricity is one of the greatest problems in Madagascar. It limits Malagasy people to do lots of things from their daily life until their career, especially for young people because access to electricity remains low with about 23 % of the total population. In the rural areas, only about 18 % have access to electricity. The installed capacity of electricity production in Madagascar accounts accordingly for some 650 MW only (production in 2008 = 486 GWh). That’s proof that Madagascar has a very low electricity access rate compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

school_2560x1707-1536x1024
Fussball_2560x1707-1536x1024
5E365C20-01FE-463C-A4DC-1DA1928D0B23-1536x1152

Moreover, from my story, I grew up in a small village in the countryside which does not have access to the internet and a good education. Although we have electricity, it is not sustainable because most of the time the power cut is coming. In addition, there is not much infrastructure in our village such as a university, hospital, public bookstore, cyber cafe etc.

However, I have had difficulties in my entire life, especially in my studies, so I must move to Tana to carry out my education after I got my BAC degree a few years ago but It is not easy to live in the city, you have to rent an apartment for living and to have something else what you need, for example: food, school fees etc. So you must pay up to 200,000 Ariary per month. From my point of view, I think that it is not affordable for everyone owing to the price of life. I have had an experience that is why I study in the morning and have a part time job in the afternoon.

FC098225-3231-4C6D-9C40-71DD28205BF7_1_201_a-1536x939

However, young Malagasy have a lot of energy and potential for doing several things. We are motivated to study new things.
We have natural resources such as endemic wildlife, mines, and wide terrain to profit from compared to other young people around the world. Besides, we have a capacity to do something extraordinary within them. So we have many chances to achieve our goals such as being a tourist guide, biologist, anthropologist etc.

Young malagasy people have already been rewarded for what we have to do for our nation. We will give the best we can do as much as possible but empower us if you are interested ! We will change the story of Madagascar together. We need your help!

IMG_3485-2048x1536