January 2008 On the Wavelength with Learning Radio programs in Madagascar promote literacy and math Across Madagascar, primary school classrooms once dominated by teacher talk are now buzzing with the sound of children learning in groups, singing songs, asking questions, and sharing answers.
These active learning strategies are part of a national effort to invigorate teaching and learning across Madagascar, a country where half the children currently don’t make it past second grade. The new lessons are led by a series of radio programs developed by EDC and a team of local educators. First and second graders learn literacy skills, mathematics, and French in 30-minute segments. The segments feature a cast of local characters that model how games, stories, songs, and group work help young students learn. Nationwide broadcast began in fall 2007. “The programs were initially intended to reach 600 schools, but the Ministry of Education decided to broadcast nationwide. We are now in 20,000 schools,” says EDC’s Norma Evans. “They’re broadcast on national and regional stations, so anyone with a radio can pick them up.” Creating a buzzTo engage the widest audience, all programs are produced in Malagasy, the local language, with area school children acting the young parts and Ministry staffers speaking adult roles. A scriptwriting team of five local educators works closely with Evans to ensure the content conforms to the national curriculum and the pedagogy is sound. Project staff also invited diverse parent groups to test segments before they aired, soliciting feedback and suggestions for improvement. “When we tested them in the south, parents showed up every day, lining the windows to hear the programs,” says Evans. “They let us know what they wanted more of and what to change.” Evans and her team were pleased to discover that parents were supportive of the project’s larger goals: “They wanted to see the children more active and involved in learning.” As 50 percent of the teaching force in Madagascar lack formal training, “radio teachers” model active teaching methods such as asking open-ended questions. They also direct teachers in setting up group work and other unfamiliar activities. Following each lesson, the radio teachers speak directly to their classroom counterparts, reviewing the day’s activities, explaining why they are effective and offering ideas for building on them. “We talk to the teachers in very simple, straightforward language and tie the trainings to the daily activity so they are relevant and accessible,” says Evans. “Many teachers tell us this is the first time anyone has spoken to them about teaching in a way they could understand.” The radio programs in Madagascar are part of a nationwide initiative to enhance teacher training and community support for schools. Known as Support Technology for Educators and Parents (STEP), it is funded by USAID and carried out by EDC in partnership with Madagascar’s Ministry of Education. For More InformationContact Norma Evans (nevans@edc.org) Visit the Web site of EDC's International Education Systems Division
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Read a feature article about EDC's work with teachers in Madagascar
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Where once children learned mathematics through recitation and rote memorization, they now sit together and count with twigs or bottle caps. French and literacy lessons look different, too, with children building vocabulary skills by reciting poems and drafting their own sentences to share with classmates.
