Education in Senegal

Senegal’s history of investing in education and engaging education stakeholders in sector dialogue mark the government’s commitment to building a strong education system.

Based on the 2019 PASEC assessment, many Senegalese students acquire basic competencies by the end of primary education, but 25% lack minimum proficiency in reading and 35% in math.

Significant socioeconomic, rural-urban and regional disparities call for a more equitable and inclusive education system. While minimal learning differences are observed among girls and boys at the primary level, gender disparities emerge in secondary education, with more girls dropping out of school than boys.

Senegal is working with GPE and other partners to improve the quality of learning by reducing inequalities and vulnerabilities. The government aims to strengthen the capacities of decentralized administrations to detect vulnerabilities and identify and implement measures to reduce them.

Schools will define and implement remedial strategies to improve learning, which could include the provision of teachers, new teaching and learning materials, upgrading infrastructure or opening a canteen.

Plans to improve sector governance include primary education learning assessments to bolster evidence for decision making, and resource allocation criteria that account for disparities, among others.

As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting:

• The Coalition des Organisations en Synergie pour la Défense de l’Éducation Publique (COSYDEP) for the 2020-2023 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).
• The Tax Education Alliance (TaxEd) led by ActionAid International for the 2021-2023 period.

Learn more

• Senegal is part of the KIX Africa 21 hub.
• KIX research projects:
  • A new model of bridging classes to improve learning of out-of-school children and youth
  • Common-scale assessment of early and foundational math learning across the Global South
  • Observatory on COVID-19 Responses in Educational Systems in Africa
  • Strengthening Bilingual and Multilingual Learning Systems in Francophone Africa