Education in Sierra Leone

In 2018, Sierra Leone set out to transform its education system by raising access and quality across all levels of schooling. Reforms have led to significant improvements, but early grade reading and mathematics assessments in 2014 and 2021 show that most students are not achieving foundational level literacy and numeracy.

The government is prioritizing foundations of learning for all to ensure that students learn to read fluently with comprehension, acquire fundamental mathematics competencies, and develop resilient socio-emotional skills.

With GPE support, Sierra Leone and partners are expanding access to pre-primary education, ensuring more students are ready to learn when they enter primary school. Clearly defined learning outcomes for grades 1-4 lay the basis for new teaching and learning materials and formative early-grade assessment tools.

The government is also investing in teachers with an aim to train, recruit, retain and support excellent pre-primary and primary educators. Reform efforts emphasize reducing gender and other disparities in access and outcomes so that all children acquire the foundational skills needed to progress through the education system.

As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting the Education For All Sierra Leone Coalition (EFA-SL) for the 2020-2023 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).

Learn more

• Sierra Leone is part of the KIX Africa 19 hub.
• KIX research projects:
  • A comparative study of accelerated education programs and girls’ focused education models in Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone
  • Integrating early child education in sectoral planning
  • Observatory on COVID-19 Responses in Educational Systems in Africa
  • Teacher Capacity Building for Play-based Early Learning in Ghana and Sierra Leone
  • Using data for improving education equity and inclusion – MICS-EAGLE