Madagascar
Akany Avoko is a children’s home situated 15km north of Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Established in 1963, Akany Avoko is home to over 120 abandoned, orphaned, abused, impoverished or troubled children aged between 6 months and 21 years in age. It provides a home and education to 65 young children in the child care centre and a further 60 older children and young adults.
The original child care centre was originally designed to house only 25 children and for this reason Avonbrook Projects Abroad has agreed to fund an expansion. Construction has now begun and should be completed in time for the new school year (September 2008).
In addition, Avonbrook has agreed to fund the salary of two primary school teachers at Akany Avoko for the next four years, with the intention of finding long-term funding for these posts thereafter.
The Akany Avoko Primary School
In 2005, in response to rising school fees, the low standard of education in Malagasy schools, and a increase from 15 to 50 primary school aged children living at the Home, Akany Avoko decided to build its own on-site primary school to ensure that children from the age of six upwards received the standard of primary education they deserved.
Teaching standards in many Malagasy public and private schools are low, with
corporal punishment still very much a part of daily life. Class sizes are often very large with a ratio of one teacher to sixty children not unusual. In building its own primary school and staffing it with specialised teaching staff Akany Avoko reduced the amount of money it spent on children’s school fees but also ensured a better education for our children.
Since its inception the Primary school has been extremely successful and now provides classes for over sixty children. Since the school was completed we have seen a 100% pass rate for Akany Avoko’s pupils taking their Primary School Certifiate exam. This would be an incredible statistic for any school in Madagascar but it is even more telling when one considers the backgrounds of poverty or neglect that many of our children come from.
More information can be found at www.akanyavoko.com
