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

To address this, the country is 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. A focus on teachers aims to train, recruit, retain and support excellent pre-primary and primary educators.

As detailed in Sierra Leone’s Partnership Compact, the government is working with GPE and other partners to ensure foundations of learning for all.

The GPE communications team spoke with Emmanuel Allie, GPE focal point of the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), and Mathias Esmann, former Education Advisor in the MBSSE, about Sierra Leone’s journey to achieving large-scale and sustainable change that benefits every child.

What does system transformation mean in the context of Sierra Leone?

The journey to education transformation began in 2018 when Sierra Leone declared that education was the main path to national development and introduced the Free Quality School Education program.

The government allocated 20% of its budget to education, removed school fees, made transition exams free, and invested heavily in teaching and learning materials, teacher salaries and new equipment for schools.

Furthermore, the government introduced a number of policies to revitalize the education sector, including on radical inclusion and integrated early childhood development, and revamped the curricula.

Transformation also means leading internationally and partnering with other countries on the journey. Sierra Leone chaired the High-Level Steering Committee for SDG 4, the advisory board for the Transforming Education Summit as well as the advisory board for the Global Education Monitoring Report, and has sat on the board of GPE.

Sierra Leone welcomed 13 other African countries in Freetown to launch the Freetown Manifesto and seven other African countries for the inaugural Foundational Learning Exchange.

The work is only beginning, however, and much remains to be done to translate this revolution in access to education to improved learning outcomes for all.

Why did Sierra Leone choose “foundations of learning for all” as the priority reform?

The priority reform ”foundations of learning for all” springs from Sierra Leone’s Education Sector Plan 2022-26, which clearly sets out the overall goal of improving learning outcomes in reading and mathematics assessed in class 4 as a core objective of Sierra Leone’s education sector.

This is directly in line with Sierra Leone’s ambitions to achieve SDG indicator 4.1 and its international commitment to cut learning poverty in half by 2030.

The government also launched the Education Innovation Challenge (2019–22) and the Sierra Leone Education Innovation Challenge (2022–25) specifically to lift learning outcomes in the first years of school.

The MBSSE created a technical team to identify the priority reform, and there was widespread consensus that if Sierra Leone could achieve progress on improving foundational learning outcomes, the country could also make progress on its inclusion agenda. As a result, the indicators in the priority reform explicitly require closing any gaps in access and outcomes.

How can this priority unlock system transformation?

When children fulfill their fundamental right to education and learn to read, do math, and interact with teachers and other children, they are able to start educating themselves – we call it “learning to learn”.

Once children experience schools as a safe space for their own development, they are much less likely to drop out. Teachers will be able to focus on age-appropriate subjects in the later grades rather than helping children catch up with foundational skills.

And Sierra Leone will benefit from an educated workforce. One study has demonstrated that when children learn instead of merely being in a classroom, the socioeconomic benefits of education multiply.

Sierra Leone is firmly committed to reaping those gains for national development.

How have GPE processes helped Sierra Leone so far build the foundation to deliver sustainable change?

GPE provided the impetus for the government of Sierra Leone to create a partnership compact. The country already had a set of strong partnerships in the education sector and the compact process enabled this group to sit down with the government to focus on a single reform with transformative potential.

It is a powerful tool to demonstrate the commitment of the government to a certain course of action, and it has proven effective in mobilizing additional support for the government’s education ambitions.

What is different this time from what you were previously doing?

Sierra Leone’s education system has suffered from chronic underinvestment, at least since the outbreak of civil war in the early 1990s.

Now, for the first time, the government is devoting 20% of its budget to education, a simple necessity when the median age of the country’s population is 19.

This investment reflects the government’s conviction that human capital development is central to national development. The government is focused on providing an education for all children with a special focus on children in poor and remote communities, girls and children with disabilities – what we call “radical inclusion”.

Finally, the government is applying data and technology to measure its own progress and be able to adjust course when necessary.

What are your hopes for the children of Sierra Leone?

That all children get the education they deserve. That the commitment the government has undertaken be realized through coordinated efforts by all stakeholders. That children, teachers and parents work in the collective interest. That the kind of education delivered is fit for purpose.

And that education is supported by a system working to enable every child to reach their fullest potential.