MADAGASCAR: Salesians launch Don Bosco University in Moramanga
Main building to be inaugurated in May
MADAGASCAR
(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries are in the process of establishing Don Bosco University Moramanga, in eastern Madagascar. As the area is marked by poverty, a lack of health care and non-existent roads, education is a priority.
The university will accommodate at least a thousand students and will feature lecture halls, a library, dormitories and staff accommodation, which are all currently under construction. The main university building will be inaugurated in May.
The project was launched by Salesian Bishop Rosario Saro Vella, who has been at the helm of the Salesian Diocese of Moramanga since 2019. The Italian Episcopal Conference, through the “Service for Charitable Interventions for the Development of Peoples”, will fund the project. Salesians, private donors and associations will also contribute. A shelter for single mothers and vulnerable women, run by Salesian sisters, will also be established in the same area.
Currently 10,000 students attend the Catholic schools in the diocese, and over 900 young people receive scholarships and comprehensive support. Since last year, courses in economics and law have been taking place, with 300 students enrolled. Subsequently, courses in education, tourism and communication will begin.
At the helm of the academic project is Prisca Marav, aged 35, one of Madagascar’s youngest rectors. With a degree in political science, she specialized in international law in Loppiano, Italy. She explained, “Here, the priority is to eat every day. Going to university is a huge challenge. Many students have to work to help their families, even though fees are very low — less than 50 euro a year — and we offer scholarships. Some arrive without having eaten.”
The diocese also supports youth with living arrangements, housing them in religious communities and contributing to food, rent, and medical expenses. Persuading youth to continue their studies often means taking workers away from the fields. Many students come from villages in the savannah, where people live off rice paddies and zebu herding. Few want to study agriculture or tourism, sectors that are strategic for development.
“Everyone dreams of an office job. We need to raise awareness to help people understand the country’s real needs,” explained Marav. “We don’t just focus on their studies, but on the whole person, on holistic education.”
In Moramanga, there are around 600,000 Catholics, served by 35 priests and 22 congregations. The focus is primarily on education, charity, social work and health care, in a country where 75% of the population lives below the poverty line and public health care is virtually non-existent.
Bishop Vella said, “We rode motorbikes to a gold-mining area and met some young people carrying a girl on a makeshift stretcher made of bamboo poles and blankets. They had walked for 18 hours and still had another 10 or so to go to reach a clinic. These are extremely serious and absurd injustices. We are also thinking of trying to build a new clinic in those areas.”
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Sources:
Salesian Missions – Madagascar
UNICEF – Madagascar
