A community school for all (children) in Fiarenana

Donné, The first high school graduate is a native of Fiadanana and is currently a suprvisor of Zahana activities in his village. He was part of the very first cohort that passed the CEPE exam in 2009. Later he attended, supported by Zahana, secondary and high school, with a baccalaureate in agriculture. We are proud of our homecoming son of Fiadanana, who is now a pillar of our activities and a role model for others. (For more information on CEPE over the years, please visit our website.)
 
Since then, we do not deviate from our good habits. This year 2024, Fiarenana put five CEPE students in the running and all five also succeed. While Fiadanana had six of our students participating, and three passed successfully.
 
Good for them!
 
Taking advantage of our monthly site visit, Zahana congratulated both the eight newly graduated students and their teachers for their successful effort. As a prize they all got small amount of money to enjoy during the school break.
 
The biggest news is: two boys from Fiarenana will attend secondary school in Bevato! Zahana will support all expenditures related to the secondary school, and bag with all notebooks and materials. Zahana will support them with a full scholarship, even that the secondary school is public school there is financial contribution required from the parents.
 
Currently they have to walk every day for about one hour each way from their village to attend school. We are currently exploring options if we could find a host family during the week they could stay with to avoid the long walk every day, just to get to the secondary school (this expense would be part of their scholarship). Roman wants to join military to fight cattel thives and Jocelyn wants to become teacher and return home to his village.

Links:

• CEPE is a Certificat d'etudes primaires elementaires
• Getting ready for secondary school in rural Madagascar 10 ys ago
• 2020: The CEPE once again in our village's school

As a reminder: the two Zahana schools were built with the community about ten years ago, one in Fiadanana (translated: ‘where there is peace’) and the other Fiarenana (translated: ‘here we recover’).

The two schools are about 5 kilometers apart from each other. They had a single, modest objective: to provide free education to young children from the two villages. In exchange for sending their children to our schools the parents participate as members in an environmental conservation program consisting of sustained reforestation, the adoption of organic charcoal and the use of improved stoves in their homes.

The age of our students can vary greatly and sometimes exceed 16 years of age or be as young as five years old. This is due to the delay in schooling and often influenced by the possibilities and needs of the parents.

The important focus is that our students get a good basic training and succeed in reading, writing and counting/calculating. Above all this basic education is crucial by empowering them in signing any document after having read and understood the instructions and implications. Far too often in the past people have put their thumbprint on documents (in lieu of a signature) without knowing what they were actually signing. Having the option to ask their kids for help in understanding what they are signing, shows the power and value of education.

At the request of parents, the two schools began to adopt the official school curriculum. This is in addition to our Zahana activities aimed at addressing the harsh conditions of life in rural areas, for example by teaching reforestation, making of improved cookstoves, gardening or making handmade soap.

• To stimulate school attendance and move forward, Zahana plans for the 2024-2025 school year in September to provide the 200 students with school uniforms and work coats for the 5 teachers.
• As a bonus, 200 pairs of sandals will be distributed to the children.
• New approach to set up an improved and bigger vegetable garden project by and for the two Zahana schools is aimed at strengthening the food security of our students, and familiarizing students with a diversified agricultural culture acquired from a young age.
• Organization of a school fair to sell some of the products from the vegetable gardens. 

We know this project is huge. Your donations also help in providing essential schools supplies such as, chairs, tables, notebooks, pencils, erasers, and pens for the new school year.