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AMCHAM

EDUCATION

Don’t Let Work StressKeep You Up at Night

TIP CORNER

EDUCATION AND RELIGION IN THE U.S.

CAN PUBLIC FUNDING BE SPENTAT RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS?

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Saturday, January 25, 2020 n°.0346 es@amcham-madagascar.org 4 pages every Saturday

AmCham BusinessTrainings | Call for Trainers

ANNOUNCEMENT

AmCham English DiscussionSeminars: Registrations fornew terms are now open.

ANNOUNCEMENT

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SOURCING AT MAGIC2020: MALAGASY PARTICIPANTS ARE READY

Combating hate, racism and extremism through educationInstructor Kawser Ahmed, who carries out peace and conflict studies, reveals how uncomfortable it is for teachers and students to discuss about hot-button topics like immigration, race, religions and sex in a societywhere extremism and violence do still exist. Based on the case of the province of Manitoba, Canada, he proposesto redefine the relationship between students and teachers to be more human, and proposes a learning curriculum which gives a strong focus on human rights, equality and responsibilities of citizens, fromKindergarten to Grade 12.

Education initiatives have a proven

potential to help marginalized popula-

tions gain access to justice that

contributes to peaceful societies.

24 January 2020, International Day of

Education "Learning for people,

planet, prosperity, and peace"

The 2020 theme highlights the integrated nature of education, itshumanistic aims, as well as its centrality to our collective developmentambitions. It also gives stakeholdersand partners flexibility to tailor thecelebration for diverse audiences, a variety of contexts and for prioritythemes

P.26Signature of the Civil Rights Act by US President Lyndon Johnson (1964).

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26 Saturday, January 25, 2020EDUCATION

EDITORIAL By Ravel Notoavina,Mandela Washington Fellow 2018, Co-founder and School

Director of Ayhay, Quality Education Activist

Happy Education Day! The International Dayof Education is celebrated on January 24 everyyear. It is important to celebrate since the role ofeducation is to bring global peace and sustainabledevelopment around the world. Education is thefoundation of development. I t is the tool to eradicate poverty today and tomorrow. We musttherefore harness our potentials to reduce thebarriers to education in Madagascar and acrossAfrica.

The country’s Education Sector Plan (ESP)for 2018–2022 seems bold and credible to improvequality (learning), access, and governance(World Bank Madagascar Basic EducationSupport Project (P160442). However, there arevarious barriers to education that we must tackleas soon as possible in Madagascar. More so thananything else, there is a vicious cycle that wemust fight together: the lack of quality educationis the root cause of poverty, and poverty is the primary barrier to education.

The Global Citizen Movement has releasedthe top ten barriers of education; such as thedecrease or lack of allocated budget or funding for education, the increase of untrained or lack of teachers, no classrooms and the lack of learning materials, the distance from home to school, the exclusionof children with disabilities, hunger and poor nutrition, political instability and the cost of education.

Similarly, the National budget allocated to education in Madagascar has decreased to less than 15percent and the national budget allocated to research has decreased to only 0,01 percent in 2017. About80 percent of the teachers have no formal teacher training and public primary school teachers clearlylack pedagogical competences. Students learn more when the teacher has a higher level of education,including teacher training preparation. And 47 percent of children under 5 years in Madagascar developinsufficiently in the early years due to malnutrition and poor health as reported by the World Bank(Madagascar Basic Education Support Project (P160442).

Harnessing the potentials of Education leaders in Madagascar is a great as way to tackle the barriers to education and implement innovations. As to that example, during the West Africa RegionalConvening in June 11-12, 2019, the Mandela Washington Fellows 2018 (President Barack Obama’s YALIFlagship Program) joined forces by “Harnessing their potentials to reduce barriers to education acrossAfrica” in Accra, Ghana. As a result, here is a summary of the initiatives taken by the Fellows:

We must train any existing teachers, especially primary ones, with leadership skills so that they willfind effective solutions by themselves. The inclusion of civic leadership, public management and business and entrepreneurship theme subjects in secondary curriculums are essential. Kindergarten’scurriculum should include Information Technology. A designed educational apps in tablets will help withthe shortage of qualified teachers. We must include coding in our curriculums depending on the contextand class level of each country. We are to train teachers for children with special needs and set up a policy for an authentic inclusive education. As a global language, English needs be used to leverageeducation system without despising mother-tongue. It is important to educate students with Africanstories to know the values and implement concrete contextualized lessons with learning materials.

While speaking of contextualizing lessons and teachings, we need to be aware that “first,Madagascar is blessed by having many resources that we must consider as big advantage forMalagasy people. However, if the next generations are not aware of what they possess in the backyardand how fortunate they are, then it is not just a shame but a big loss. Others will surely take advantagesof our richness. Therefore, children should learn about their possessions from their age; such as,the endemic fauna and flora, the precious stones/gems, or the marine ecosystem and many others.There must be an ongoing field activity for practical learnings and discoveries rather than just theory in our school programs. In other words, active learning is a crucial component as a method thatteachers should use at school.”Professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy, President of GERP Madagascar.

To add the propositions of Education innovations, Mrs. Zo Raveloson, Founder of Sweet First YearsMontessori School Madagascar advises that “there are many ways of educational approaches in theworld that one can use. We need to initiate Montessori pedagogy to parents and educators, evenfor part time at schools because it can cover the lack in our education system and approach.”

When looking for innovations in education, we must take into account the culture, character traitsand backgrounds of the students. Professor Jonah Ratsimbazafy, highlights that “we must considerthe culture and attitude of Malagasy children when finding new techniques of education. Seriousdiscussions must be done to encourage innovation techniques for good education program. Howcan we enable children to create, innovate and think and what is the vision? In the all educationsystem at all levels, innovative discoveries must be encouraged in Madagascar if we really want totake charge the future of our country.”

Educational leaders, educators, teachers, and quality education enthusiasts! We must harness ourpotentials to reduce the barriers to education in Madagascar and across Africa. We need perseveranceand hard work to make it happen. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela cheered his people: “It always seemsimpossible until it’s done”.We must empower one another and encourage any teachers throughouttheir career by providing training opportunities. Let us prepare the educators of tomorrow and be opento innovations in education. The lack of quality education is the root cause of poverty, and poverty is theprimary barrier to education. We must fight.

THE AMCHAM POST

Author Kawser Ahmed visits a Grade 12 class at J.H. Burns Collegiate Schoolin Winnipeg to discuss the dangers of radicalization and the importance of edu-cation. (Kawser Ahmed), Author provided

In his article in TheC o n v e r s a t i o n ,Kawser  Ahmed,

Instructor and SSHRC Post-Doctoral fellow at thePolitical Science depart-men t ,  Un i v e r s i t y  o fWinnipeg, in the Provinceof Manitoba, Canada, sharesthat  communities can combat racism, hate andextremism with education.

T h r o u g h  h i s  own research in peace andconflict studies, he believest h a t  t o  c on f ron t  a nd combat extremism, the province of  Manitoba needs new ways of engagingwith young people that aresensitive to Manitoba'ssocial-political context. 

What causes extremism?In his PhD research, KawserAhmed reveals that thereare "extremist recruiters" –people who deploy a nar-rative of hate – who targetyoung people in schoolsand universities. He fellacross one of those recruit-ment posters inviting youngpeople to join The Base, aU .S . -based  neo -Naz i group. Manitoba has thenbecome a place that mustseriously grapple withracism. For example, lastwinter, Canadian Courtswas told to be racist whenthe man accused of killingTina Fontaine, an Indi­-genous girl, in 2014, wasacquitted. Last year, signsstating "It's okay to be white"popped up at a number ofeducational institutions. A whole Winnipeg schooldivision closed due to online threats.

What do educatorsthink?Ahmed spoke with

12 educators and the follo­-wing ideas  came out .Participants agreed thatracism and anti-immigrantextremism were on the riseand manifesting in diffe-rent forms, and that theyoften felt uncomfortableaddressing the issue. Theyalso admitted feel inguncomfortable discussinghot-button matters as race,religion and sex. So theyagreed on the fact that allstakeholders have to takemeasures to counter extre-mism.

How to deal with it?Through EDUCATION.Ahmed  e xp l a i n s  t h eManitoba social studiescurriculum, the concept ofcitizenship as "knowled-geable and engaged citizens"and as an essential subjectfor kindergarten to Grade12 students in age-appro-priate ways. The curricu-lum gives a strong focuson human rights, equalityand responsibilities of cit izens,  as well  as on anti-bias and anti-racismapproaches and Aboriginalperspectives throughoutthe social studies curri­-culum. But racism is notcovered as a subject or ascontent exclusively.

For instance, Grade 11Canadian history discussesabout restrictions to Asianimmigration, the impact

of the American Civil Waron Black immigration toCanada as well as Blackloyalists. In Grade 6, socialstudies learning outcomesinclude the reserve systemand its impact, treaties and Aboriginal rights inCanada from 1876 to thepresent.

Towards a renewedrelat ionship between students and teachers.Ahmed states that educa-tors are uniquely positio-ned to prepare youngpeople as they transitionfrom school to university.But the society we live innow demands new waysof teaching. Discussionson extremism and radica-lization should be broughtinto classrooms. In a broaderperspective, students andteachers, adults, citizensand community leadersneed a relationship basedon trust and confidence.In Brazilian educator PauloFreire's words, in his workEducation: the Practice ofFreedom, "To be human isto engage in relationshipswith others." The role ofhuman  b e i ng s  i s  n o t simply to be in the worldbut to engage with the world.

Source: TheConversation

Edited by KennyRaharison

EDUCATION

Combating hate, racism and extremism through education

We must harness our potentials to reduce the barriers to education in Madagascar

and across Africa.

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Last week, Secretary ofEducation Betsy DeVos stated that public schoolsmust allow prayer and otherforms of religious expres-sion or risk losing federalfunds. As a reminder, in 2003,President George W. Bushissued a guidance whichsuggests the departmentwould be enforcing guide-lines under the Elementaryand Secondary EducationAct requiring state oversightof districts to ensure theyhave clear policies protec-ting the right to prayer inschool and make availablea clear process for students,parents and teachers to report violations of their

right to pray. The release raised debates among edu-cation organizations. Somesay the statement affirms acore constitutional protec-tion: School officials are prohibited from imposingtheir faith on students. Others fear a disruption inthe whole education system.

Another point that rai-sed debates was the loose-ning of requirements forreligious schools to accessfederal grant funds. RandiWeingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that DeVosand Trump were trying torewrite the Constitution 

and trying to vitiate the sepa-ration of church and state."

Other education orga­-nizations see the release asan effort to push a largeragenda expanding privateand religious schools whilesidelining public education.In other words, the decisionm a y  n o t  o n l y  m u d d l e separation of church andstate, but also siphon fundsmeant for public schools toprivate ones and essen­tiallydisrupt the whole U.S. publiceducation system.

Source: Education Dive

Edited by KennyRaharison

This year, the AmericanChamber of Commerce inMadagascar will accompa-n y  f i v e  M a d a g a s c a n companies to attend thefamous Sourcing at MAGICtrade show which will h a p p e n  i n  L a s  Ve g a s ,Nevada, USA on February4-7, 2020.

Last Wednesday, theChamber, its partners, and the participants held apress conference at ViMaAnkorondrano in order forthem to  introduce  theMadagascan delegationwho will be heading to Las Vegas next week.

The United States is ahuge market for Madagas­-can products. The exportsfrom Madagascar to the US under  AGOA have substantially increased these

last years – from USD 39.8million in 2015 to USD 180million in 2018 if we referto what Mrs. Elodie Rabenivo,AGOA Resources CenterMadagascar Project Officersaid. As a reminder, theAmCham has launched acall for interest five monthsago to find out if Madagascancompanies were willing toparticipate in the trade show.After a selection process,five companies will finallyrepresent the Malagasybrand during the trade show.

Five companies. Twotextile companies will bepresent at the textile pavi-lion of the Mandalay BayConvention Center: PLGConfection, specialized injeans and denim products,and Haytex Madagascar,specialized in Smock Dress.The handicrafts delegation

will be made up of UnikB a g s  ( r a f f i a  b a g s ) ,D i a m o n d r a  C r é a t i o nMadagascar (raffia bagsand accessories), and NivoJewels & Precious Stones(silver and gold jewelrywith local precious stones).

85,000 visitors world-wide are expected to attendthis huge trade show. Sincethe event is not intendedfor direct sales, companieswill be geared towards getting orders, contacts andpartners.

Madagascar's parti­-cipation to Sourcing atMAGIC is supported by theU.S. Embassy Madagas­car,G r o u p e  F i l a t e x ,  a n dEthiopian Airlines as offi-cial carrier. We wish all theparticipants the best!

By Kenny Raharison

27Saturday, January 25, 2020NEWSTHE AMCHAM POST

AMCHAM

Sourcing at MAGIC 2020: Malagasyparticipants are ready

EDUCATION AND RELIGION IN THE U.S.

Can public funding be spent at religiousschools?

The Malagasy delegation and AmCham's partners during the press conference last Wednesday.

Betsy DeVos from Ed Dept proposes easier access to federal funds for religious schools, emphasizes school prayer.

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28Saturday, January 25, 2020 ACTIVITIESTHE AMCHAM POST

A joint initiative of the American Chamberof Commerce in Madagascar

Executive Director:Scott A. ReidExecutive Secretary:Lalaina RakotoarisonPublication Manager: AMCHAMEditors:AMCHAM Kenny RaharisonElodie RabenivoAdvertising:publicite@lexpressmada.com info@amcham-madagascar.org Phone: +261 20 26 410 34WEBSITE:www.amcham-madagascar.org

Editorial Director:Sylvain RanjalahyEditor in Chief: Sylvain RanjalahyAdvertising Manager: Haingo RamahatraProduction Manager: Christian Rija Rafidison WEBSITE:www.lexpressmada.comAnkorondranoBP3893 - 101 AntananarivoPhone: +261 20 22 219 34Fax: +261 20 22 628 94Telex: +261 20 22 222 87E-mail: lexpress@malagasy.com

ANNOUNCEMENTAmCham English Discussion Seminars Work stress is inevitable, but it

doesn’t have to get in the way ofa good night’s sleep. Try thesestrategies during the day to avoidworrying about work at all hours of  the night.  Make a to-do list. The act of writingdown uncompleted tasks allowsyou to put them out of your mind.You also might consider keepinga journal, where you write downyour thoughts and feelings.Putting pen to paper can helpyou process  emot ions  and reduce anxiety. Get some exer-cise. Physical activity — even asingle instance — decreases rumination, which is often linked to insomnia. Or practicemeditation. Researchers in theNetherlands found that evensmall  amounts  o f  mindful meditation (10 minutes beforeand after work for two weeks)helped calm racing minds andimproved sleep quality and duration. Lastly, be easy on yourself. Self-compassion canoften break the cycle of negativethoughts that keeps you up. Workstress may be inevitable at times,but these strategies can increa-se  your abi l i ty  to  wake  up feeling refreshed and able to tackle your biggest challenges.

This tip is adapted from “Howto Stop Thinking About Workat 3am,” by Rebecca Zucker

Source: Harvard Business Review

Don’t Let Work Stress KeepYou Up at Night

TIP CORNER

The American Chamber of Commerce in Madagascar now more than ever understands the role of the privatesector in the Malagasy economy; thus is willing to reinforce its strength.For 2020, the Chamber will organize trainings for individuals and/or businesses, members and/or non-mem-bers.The Chamber thus calls for applications in the following fields:

•   Legal •   Finance and Investments •   Business Management •   Project Management •   Leadership and Entrepreneurship •   Personal Development

Applicants should submit their resume, motivation letter, and module proposals at elodie@amcham-madagas-car.org

For further information, contact AmCham at 020 26 410 34.

ANNOUNCEMENT

AmCham Business Trainings | Call for Trainers

The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) is pleased to announce the opening of new terms for EnglishDiscussions Groups. - 2nd  term of its Tuesday – Thursday sessions, starting on Tuesday, 25th February 2020 - 2nd term of its Wednesday – Friday sessions, starting on Wednesday, 26th February 2020

If you want to improve your English skills, come join the AmCham’s English discussion seminars, consisting of 100%practice in a friendly and welcoming learning environment.Class descriptions:•  Each class is limited to 10 participants to give you the best possible opportunity to learn quickly and accurately.•  Sessions are led by fluent English speakers having extensive experience in teaching the English language.•  Each session focuses on a variety of topic of interest to the participants.Calendar & Venue:Seminars are held at the AmCham Office, Bâtiment C1, Explorer Business Park, Ankorondrano - all at the same time:12:15pm-1:45pm.Participation fee is 100,000 Ariary per person for all 10 sessions (10,000 Ariary per session), or 15,000 Ariary per sessionfor those attending “a la carte”. Anyone with basic conversational English is eligible to attend. However, preference will be given to individuals registe-ring for the full 10 session block, and within this group, AmCham members.Registration: Class size is limited to 10 participants, so to secure your spot, please submit payment to the AmCham office by:

➢ Monday, 24th January 2020, for Tuesday – Thursday sessions ➢ Tuesday, 25th January 2020, for Wednesday – Friday sessionsSpecial formula: Companies may have the English discussion seminars held at their offices on one condition: the clienthas to provide 10 participants for each class.Another possible option under this special formula: Companies that cannot gather 10 participants but located in thesame area (e.g. downtown) can make a joint session at an agreed location (e.g. in the premises of one of the participa-ting companies). Interested parties are invited to contact AmCham in the below contact details. Registration deadline forthis special formula is open-ended. For further information, contact AmCham at es@amcham-madagascar.org/ info@amcham-madagascar.org   orat 020 26 410 34.

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