Imagine Worldwide
The Sites

Sierra Leone

Our Current Work

Significant expansion across Sierra Leone

Working with Rising Academy Network, we provided tablet-based instruction to children in government primary schools to test the fit of our software application in preparation for scale.

Building off the success of the pilot programs, in 2023 we signed a formal Service Level Agreement with the Ministry of Education to expand the program to hundreds of schools over the next three years, with an eye to eventual national scale.

Government Partners

  • Sierra Leone Ministry of Education
  • Office of the Mayor of Freetown

Freetown, Sierra Leone

Freetown
Serving students in Government Primary Schools

Implementation Partner:
Rising Academy Network

Current Students: 12,917

Current Sites: 65

Sembehun, Sierra Leone

Southern Province

Serving schools in Sembehun, Bumpe, Kargboro, and Rebi

Implementation Partner:
Rising Academy Network

Current Students: 4,179

Current Sites: 15

Port Loko, Sierra Leone

Northwest Province

Serving students in grades 1-6 at schools in Point Loko

Implementation Partner: EducAid

Current Students: 10,781

Current Sites: 51

Sierra Leone Impact At a Glance

Children Served

44,512

Schools

170

Tablets Distributed

5,953

Hours on Tablet

476,672

Early Pilots and Evidence-Building in Sierra Leone

The pilot, in partnership with Rising Academies, was critical for testing and building out scale models in new contexts.

Pilot at Two Government Primary Schools

Serving children through a center-based learning program designed for grades 1 to 6

  • Location: Bomotoke and Sembehun, Sierra Leone
  • Curriculum and Language of Instruction: Math and Literacy (in English)
  • Research Focus: How well is the delivery model working? How suitable is the intervention for learners at the different grade levels?
  • Type of Study: Implementation Study
State of Education in Sierra Leone

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. Nearly 90% of Sierra Leone students are unable to comprehend a simple text by age 10. Sierra Leone’s education system struggles with more than 40% untrained primary school teachers and a shortage of learning materials.

Population (2023): 8.7 million

Number of early grade children: 1.5+ million

Primary school completion rate (2024): 67%

Pupil/Teacher ratio (national): 40:1

Sierra Leone Partners
ActionAid Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Implementation
EducAid
Sierra Leone
Implementation
onebillion
Burkina Faso Ghana Liberia Malawi Senegal Sierra Leone Tanzania
Software
Rising Academy Network
Ghana Liberia Sierra Leone
Implementation
SEND Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Implementation