School in Comoros

The school system is based on loi n°20-034/AU, promulgated in 2021 and revising loi n°94-035/AF. The Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, usually abbreviated as MEN, provides central administration, inspection through the General Inspectorate and coordination with the island commissions for Ngazidja, Ndzuani and Mwali. School administration works with the island authorities. The law protects universal, inclusive and equal access to quality education and prohibits corporal punishment, psychological violence, harassment and other violence in schools. Pre-primary education, called école préélémentaire, covers three years for children aged about 3 to 5. Two years introduce cultural and Muslim values and familiarise children with school, followed by one year preparing them for elementary education. Activities include Shikomori-language instruction, Quran reading, social development and early cognitive and motor development. The MEN strategy for 2023 covers public and private pre-primary provision. Elementary education uses the current CP, CE and CM structure: one year of CP, two years of CE and two years of CM. It provides basic education and ends with an assessment. A successful pupil receives the certificat de fin d’études élémentaires and can enter 6ème, the first year of lower secondary school. Lower secondary education runs from 6ème to 3ème, with two years focused on observation and two years of educational guidance, followed by the brevet de fin de premier cycle. Upper secondary education takes place in a lycée over three years: seconde, première and terminale. It may be general, technical or vocational and ends with the baccalauréat général, technique or professionnel. Post-secondary study follows the baccalauréat and belongs to the separate tertiary-education area. Public and private schools exist at every level. A private school needs MEN recognition, renewed every three years. Recognised private schools follow official programs and use the same evaluations as public schools, and transfers between the two sectors are possible. The reviewed legal material does not provide a national fee table. A 2022 government report described formal education as free and compulsory, but parents may still pay school-related charges and materials. Private-school fees vary locally and are not established by one national figure. The law provides a right to inclusive education. Classes d’adaptation support pupils with learning difficulties or substantial educational delays, and inclusive, gender-sensitive provision is intended to include children with disabilities. Reliable evidence does not establish a nationwide network of separate special schools. Écoles coraniques operate mainly as non-formal or parallel institutions, including Quranic learning and some literacy activity, and should not automatically be treated as equivalent to the formal school system. Access and completion remain uneven. The elementary completion rate was reported as 81.5% in administrative data for 2022 and modelled at 85.1% for 2024. Modelled 2024 completion rates fell to 62.5% for lower secondary and 34.6% for upper secondary. Out-of-school estimates also differ by source: a 2022 household estimate was 10.7%, while administrative data for 2023 indicated 20.4%. These figures should not be combined as though they measured the same population and method. The World Bank reported in 2025 that 87% of ten-year-olds could not read a simple text, showing that attendance does not by itself guarantee foundational learning. Current support includes REACH/AIM4Learning, a programme exceeding USD 23.32 million and covering all public schools. It targets about 136,469 pupils and 4,000 teachers and supports curriculum reform for foundational learning, resilient infrastructure, digital learning centres, health and nutrition measures and parental involvement. In 2025, the MEN, ANADEN and UNICEF introduced e-Shiyo/e-Msomo with online textbooks and school-platform functions. Connectivity remains unequal, so digital materials supplement rather than replace ordinary school access.