School Gardens and Canteens Cut Absenteeism in Madagascar Schools From 6.8% to 4%

Money for Madagascar is a UK charity founded in 1986 that works with Malagasy partners on poverty and the environment. Its 2025 Education for Life programme report, dated November 2025, records ten school gardens of about 35 square metres each, 55 working vermicomposting units, and ten school canteens serving 2,917 students. It also reports 4,692 participants trained in vermicomposting and school gardening, and 3,848 people in nutrition education sessions (most of them women). Across the schools, absenteeism fell from 6.82% to 4% and dropout from 3.98% to 2.28%. An earlier phase-four report counted seven gardens that produced 319 kg of vegetables.