Education in The Gambia
![A child writes on the blackboard. The Gambia. Credit: GPE/Jim Cham](https://assets.globalpartnership.org/s3fs-public/styles/hero_stories/public/2023-06/gambia-blackboard.jpg?VersionId=9lPU8wLQyN42JxCFO.CQYviP37o9N.y0&itok=gHjLF5jb)
Partner since:
Total grant support: US$78,920,486
Grant eligibility:
- Multiplier
- System capacity
- System transformation
Partnership compact
Coordinating agency: UNICEF
GPE Team lead: Plamen Danchev
Partner since:
Total grant support: US$78,920,486
Grant eligibility:
Partnership compact
Coordinating agency: UNICEF
GPE Team lead: Plamen Danchev
The Gambia has improved education access, equity and quality over the past several years, but the country is far from achieving its policy goal of 80% of children reaching minimum learning competencies.
While the Ministry of Education has improved enrollment at all levels of education, poor performance in literacy and numeracy shows that children are not thriving at school. Only 11% of children ages 7-14 demonstrate foundational reading skills and 9% for numeracy.
Failure to learn basic competencies has led to high rates of repetition and dropout: nearly 29% of Gambian children are out of school.
To unlock large-scale change, The Gambia is working with GPE and other partners to ensure accessible, equitable and inclusive foundational learning. The focus on basic literacy, numeracy and transferable skills, like independent learning and critical thinking capabilities, aims to equip students with the building blocks for a life of learning.
Expanding access to quality pre-primary education will better prepare children for foundational learning in primary education. And better teacher support through professional development, new teaching and learning materials, and assessment methods aligned with the foundational curriculum, will help ensure that all students in The Gambia achieve basic competencies by grade 4.
(data as of May 09, 2024)
Type: System transformation and Multiplier
Years: 2023 - 2028
Allocation: US$10,860,000
Utilization: 0
Grant agent: WB
Type: System capacity
Years: 2023 - 2028
Allocation: US$1,900,000
Utilization: 0
Grant agent: WB
Type: Program development
Years: 2023 - 2024
Allocation: US$198,750
Utilization: 0
Grant agent: WB
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 Campaign Network (EFANet) for the 2020-2023 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).