Paris high school students support the building of schools in Madagascar

The nonprofit Madagascar Construction et Partage was created in 2003 by the final-year students of the Paris Franklin Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague school, with the main objective of building schools in Madagascar. Every year, a group of last-year students works on raising the necessary funds and gets involved in implementing the project by participating on the spot in the construction or refurbishing of the buildings or classrooms. In the spirit of continuity and solidarity with the local population, the students also organize events with the children and propose training sessions in French.

This remarkable initiative of the high school students endures in a country where the needs are pressing, particularly in terms of education. If the students are involved in the design, financing and field work, for each project, the population is a stakeholder and invests financially in the purchase of the land and the availability of the workforce.

Real needs in the area of education

Twenty final-year students, divided into three groups, set off in the summer of 2010 for a three-week mission. The first group installed 25 wash-stands and 10 showers for the 630 students of the village of Ambiatide, the second built a basketball court for the 2000 students of Ankazondandy, and the third participated in the construction of a new school in Ambohimanatrika for the 80 children of the villages, the old school having been destroyed by a cyclone.

In the summer of 2014, 15 student volunteers of the Saint-Louis de Gonzague School are refurbishing 7 classrooms of a primary school and a youth hostel, and also want to be able to finance the equipment and the purchase of rice for the full school year for the children of the primary school.