Sierra Leone’s secondary school system is getting stronger due to the government’s drive to improve teaching expertise, school management and access to education for all, with a particular emphasis on girls and other marginalised groups.
Since 2016, the UK aid funded Leh Wi Lan (Let’s Learn) programme has played an important role in improving teaching and learning in government schools. The programme has done this by strengthening the capacity of the country’s education system at national, district and school levels to put government policies into practice.
Implemented by our education experts at Cambridge Education, Leh Wi Lan’s comprehensive and consistent programme of support for students, teachers, school principals and education officials is paying off. There was a 354% rise in the number of candidates who sat the WASSCE exams in 2021 compared with 2018 and the pass rate increased nearly ten-fold.
There have been significant improvements in school participation, especially for girls. Significantly, for the first time in Sierra Leonean history, in 2021 more girls took the WASSCE exams than boys.
Key take-aways
- School participation and exam achievement by girls has risen sharply after initiatives to create a safe and inclusive secondary school environment.
- Leh Wi Lan has helped secondary schools to adopt stronger systems and processes needed to improve teaching, learning and supervision.
- The distribution of menstrual hygiene kits is giving many more girls the confidence to regularly attend secondary school.
- Targeted support for children with visual impairments is providing better opportunities for them to focus on learning.
Wider access
Leh Wi Lan has played a key role in removing some of the impediments that limit learning for all children – increasing school capacity, teaching capability and resources as well as creating a safe and inclusive environment for marginalised groups.
The government’s Free Quality School Education initiative launched in 2018 removed a major financial barrier to education by providing free secondary education to all children in public government schools. Leh Wi Lan stepped in to support the delivery of this landmark policy, ensuring that schools are prepared to provide improved learning and an inclusive environment for all students. We focused on strengthening the systems and processes needed to improve teaching, learning and to monitor performance.
To drive up education standards during this period of rapid school expansion, we created lesson plans for all teachers and handbooks for all students. We also helped to develop standard models for observing and coaching teachers and a supportive approach to school supervision by district education offices.
Another step forward was the introduction of tablet-based digital data systems to promote evidence-based decision making and pedagogical practices.
Safer schools
Historically one of the barriers to school attendance for girls and children with disabilities has been concerns about a lack of safety in schools.
The government’s policy of “Radical Inclusion”, introduced in 2021, aims to remove systemic policy and practical barriers to education for these marginalised groups by eradicating stigma, harassment, intolerance, and exclusion.
Leh Wi Lan has supported the development and implementation of policies to enhance safe and inclusive school environments and promote the education of girls and children with disabilities.
We have helped to set up school safety committees, which are responsible for implementing child protection practices. and have provided principals and teachers with support and training to ensure that safety structures and measures function effectively. For example, schools have set up girls and boys clubs as forums where children can discuss scenarios where harm might occur and how they would respond.
In Sierra Leone, early marriage and sexual violence have historically led to high drop-out rates for girls at secondary level. Over 15,000 adolescent schoolgirls were recorded as becoming pregnant and dropping out of schools during the Ebola outbreak.
The policy of Radical Inclusion has a strong focus on the inclusion of historically marginalised groups such as pregnant girls, parent learners and children with disabilities.
Promoting inclusion
Another important initiative that has given many girls in Sierra Leone the confidence to attend secondary school has been the provision of menstrual hygiene kits. Leh Wi Lan has procured and distributed more than 388,000 of these kits.
The positive impact on girls’ education has led the country’s Minister of Education to commit to provide hygiene kits for schoolgirls in the 2022/2023 academic year.
Targeted support for students with visual impairments has also been offering them better opportunities to learn. Leh Wi Lan has provided maths and English pupil handbooks in Braille, distributed voice recorders to schools, and has arranged for students to have their eyesight assessed and provided with free prescription glasses or further eye treatment.
By offering targeted support to vulnerable groups, and a variety of child protection measures, we are helping to change attitudes and behaviours – to create a school environment where all children can focus on learning.
The key to the ongoing success of these inclusion initiatives is the close partnership with government – identifying needs, trialling solutions, and scaling-up these solutions together.