About

If I can’t afford it, why don’t I create it

That thought started to bother my sleep, I also had a dream of studying at a university abroad when I was in high school, but that was kind of an  impossible dream too.

I dreamed big, I didn’t give up, finally, in  2015, a person in my family went abroad for the first time, I went to your country to attend an exchange programme with the Haute Etude Pédagogique in Lausanne. It was one of my dreams that came true : to get on a plane, to go abroad, to see and touch snow.

I kept looking for more opportunities, so the same year, I went to New Delhi India, it was a scholarship too, given by the govt of India.And in September 2016, after applications, written exam and interviews, I was selected as the only one teacher to attend a teacher training for 18 months in Japan. It was hard for me to leave my family behind but that was the only way to bring my dream of starting my own school true. My kids were 8 and 5 years old when I left Madagascar to follow teacher training in Japan for 18 months. It was tough but I did it. I was happy because it was also another dream that came true: To study at a university abroad, but this time, the goal was not just study but to get and save money for our house. I took a loan in order to be able to build our house including a classroom ( I have given English classes and I had to rent some classrooms in different school, sometimes nobody opened the classroom and there were nobody around so the classes were often cancelled) , unfortunately the loan I got was hardly enough to make three rooms. And with my salary at the time plus the income from thehusband’s little shop, to finish building the house was almost impossible.

So I left Madagascar and my family not only for study but to work and save money. And we could finish building the two stories of the house when I was back from Japan in March 2018. I tried to catch up with my family  for the rest of 2018; When I was back, the huge difference about the education in other countries and mine was so big to me,  a lot needed to be done. This time, I really want to start my own school to bring changes. But all that needs money to start.

Friends , colleagues and families encouraged me, but I was afraid to start it; The desire was so strong, I wanted to bring changes but I am so small, and we hardly had money to start, even for the chair and table.

I wanted to at least change  something I did like when I was at school.

When I listen to friends and colleagues encouragement, it looks as if they all will send their kids to my school but that was not the case.

I hired 3 teachers, we planned to start preschool and grade 1 and 2, but only 19 were enrolled. The school fee was not enough to pay the teachers..

So, The school Sunrise Academy was born in October 2019; It is not an extraordinary school, but it is a school born out of passion to bring improvement, born out of passion for change.

Fortunately, now after 5 years, people see what we are doing so there are 360 kids at Sunrise now, but we are still struggling, we have a lot to do but the profit is so small so we can change things very slowly

Thanks to my experience, I think children can thrive at school if they feel safe, if the teacher cares, if they have enough school things, if they can read books, if there are not too many kids so that the teachers and school administrators know the kids can listen to them.

I think kids can do well at school if they are not hungry and if they are not too tired.

My dream school is to copy and apply what I learned in Japan and in Switzerland but with what we have, it is quite impossible so we adapt our school with what we have for the moment.

I will attach some changes we made when compared to public or usual private schools.

Lea might be disappointed when you are here because there is nothing extraordinary if you compare Sunrise to  your schools in your country, but we are trying our best.

As I really wanted to send my kids to an English speaking school but I couldn’t afford it, I thought I should start an English immersion school affordable to an ordinary family like me; So the school must be cheap not expensive like the American school or Swiss school in the capital city.

I planned to start an English immersion school from Preschool to Grade 12 but it was impossible to find Maths or Physic teachers who speak English in a small town like Moramanga, so finally, it was decided that the medium of teaching switch to French when kids are in the middle and high school level.

Somehow, it is still good because the national exam is in French, so kids here need to master French as well.

Our goal is then to form future scientists ( good at Maths, Physics; chemistry or biology) but master English and French well.

Here in Madagascar most kids who are good at Maths are very bad at languages especially English, but as we live on an island, foreign languages are a must if one wants to study at the university ( research …)  or to be open or work internationally.

Many people think in Madagascar that English is very difficult, so we want to  change this view, we want to show to the world that it is possible to speak English at a very young age, and English is not only for the rich.

We also want to include real education, manners, behavior, community things in the teaching but not just academics.

The philosophy behind it is then to provide good education, affordable for ordinary families in a small town like Moramanga.

The plan for the future is to start the same in different small towns all over the country and include smart, serious kids from vulnerable families.

Also, I wanted to have this school so I don’t need to work outside anymore but to be close to my family, but until now, I still have to do several jobs outside because the school hardly can help itself to run so I need to have another job to support my family.