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The representation of civic education in Madagascar: exploring the evolution of textbook contents

Andriamanasina Rojoniaina Rasolonaivo (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka )

Abstract Despite the government and the population’s agreed opinion on the importance of civic education in Madagascar today, the real meaning of such education remains blurred. The purpose of this study is to understand the representation of civic education as introduced in the Malagasy civic education textbooks and how it has evolved from the independence of the country until the present time. Seventeen textbooks, used since the first republic, have been analyzed to draw the understanding of the subject. The focus of civic education changes according to the political regime, from learning about institutions, and moral education, to the introduction of education for sustainable development and global citizenship education. The findings show that the textbooks have been used to establish the successive regimes’ political, ideological, and financial interests, but they also explicitly or tacitly inculcate traditional values that nurture the cultural identity of the Malagasy citizen. The textbooks try to represent the civic education subject as the ideal subject that would transform the students into “decent Malagasy citizens” who firstly recognize their traditional values and principles, and who are socially and civically engaged moral citizens, aware of the local and the global society they are living in.

1. Introduction Global Citizenship Education (GCE) has become an important topic in the education research field today in that such education is relevant in the understanding and the resolving of social, political, cultural, and environmental issues (UNESCO 2013). Major points of GCE are closely related to the “Recommendation Concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education Relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” in 1974 (UNESCO 2018). As GCE is most of the time addressed as part of subject matters such as Civics/Citizenship, Social Studies, or History, studies in the African context investigate the content of citizenship or civic education in light of major conflicts, human rights and democracy issues (Bayeh 2016; Yamada 2011; Schoeman 2006; Seroto 2012). Unlike other African countries, Madagascar has never faced any major conflicts such as civil war or strong dictatorship. Moreover, despite the country having more than 18 ethnic groups, it has one national language understandable throughout the whole country. However, it is known for its recurrent political instability periods since independence and studies suggest that even during the Civic Education (CE) courses, discussion about rights and duties in democratic participation are avoided (Antal 2010). Kennedy (2019) suggests that the evolution of Civic and Citizenship education is unique to each context, time and values. Interesting is the study of the content of such education in the context of Madagascar in this era when reflecting GCE in the national curricula is considered “one of the most urgent tasks” (UNESCO 2013, p.5). The purpose of this research is to understand the representation of CE as it is presented in the Malagasy CE textbook. This study attempts to explore the conception and the presentation of how the Malagasy CE evolved from the independence of the country until the present time.

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2. The evolution of Malagasy education and educational materials 2.1. Overview of education in Madagascar since the independence (1) The first republic (1960-1975) As a former French colony, the Malagasy education has inherited a lot from , particularly the education system, the use of French as the language of instruction, and the content of the curriculum. During the colonial period, the favored an elitist education where only a few students managed to continue their studies, which greatly sustained colonial domination. Such policy caused a huge disparity between students’ education level and limited the indigenous population’s career opportunities (Lehmil 2006). The school subjects that were taught in the French colonies were the same as the ones taught in France, but the was rather leaned towards strengthening the ascendance of the colonizers (Ibid.). After the independence of Madagascar in 1960, the education field did not change much from that of the colonial period. French remained the language of instruction and the learning contents were still similar to the French model with some revisions adapted to the Malagasy context. This can be seen in the textbooks used at that time, such as in the Mon livret d’Instruction Civique textbook by Dubois and Raveloarisoa (1969).

(2) The second republic (1975-1993) Dissatisfaction about the French-like education which favored few people and served the interest of the former colonizer was one of the biggest causes of the end of the first republic administration and the birth of the second republic, or the Malagasy socialist regime. The socialist revolution of May 1972 was obviously an educational revolution where university students demanded the malgachization (changing the language of instruction into Malagasy), the démocratisation and the décentralisation of the Malagasy education (Dahl 2011). Drastic changes have been made in this period to establish the national motto Tanindrazana – Tolom-piavotana – Fahafahana, translated as Homeland – Revolution – Liberty, and to restore the virtue of the Malagasy language and culture. For the first time after formal education was made compulsory in January 1904 (Lehmil 2006), the Malagasy language will now be used as the language of instruction after almost 70 years of French usage. All textbooks for were written in Malagasy. The former Instruction Civique school subject was replaced by Fanabeazana ara-pitondrantena or Moral Education.

(3) The first part of the third republic (1993-2008) The malgachization policy is very often defined as a “total defeat” (Dahl 2011) for different reasons, particularly the poor preparation of the language policy reform, the insufficiency of textbooks, and the lack of teacher training, which left the students to neither master French nor Malagasy. A great number of schools were closed, the enrollment rate decreased, and the repetition rate raised, causing an important increase of the illiteracy rate of the whole population (Ibid.). The third republic was established in 1993 and returned to using French as a language of instruction, but with a new approach in language use. Malagasy was used during the first two years of primary school. Starting from the third-year, social subjects and history were taught in Malagasy

－ 124 － The representation of civic education in Madagascar: exploring the evolution of textbook contents while scientific subjects such as mathematics and geography were learned in French. This return to French presented several drawbacks as the teachers did not have a good enough command of French and students felt alienated in learning a language and concepts that were detached from their everyday life and reality. Going to school was limited to rote learning without real comprehension of the contents (Ibid.).

(4) The second part of the third republic (2008-2010) Still during the third republic in 2008, a new educational reform was made with a new president and the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) 2007-2012, a five-year development program for Madagascar which was aiming for a