The state has begun a process of deconcentration of its services at regional and departmental level, but the management of the education system remains very centralised, controlled at Ministerial level.
Since 1994, French has been reintroduced as the teaching language, alongside Malagasy in the first years of school. The people responsible for education have to deal with a serious lack of confidence: discouraged by the poor quality of teaching (absence or lack of teachers, dilapidation of buildings, lack or obsolescence of teaching materials) and disappointment because school no longer guarantees automatic social promotion - parents worry less about the level of schooling of their children, when they can get jobs to increase the household income.
However community and local government initiatives show the desire to revitalise the schools. A partnership policy between those locally involved and the government seems slowly to be put in place.
