##### The Sites

# Sierra Leone

* * *

###### Scale Portfolio

### Significant expansion across Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is part of our Scale Portfolio. Our tablet program is closely aligned with the **Ministry of Basic and Secondary School Education**’s top priorities of foundational learning and solar electrification. Building off the success of previous pilot programs we implemented with **Rising Academy Network**, we conducted two co-creation workshops in 2024, bringing together stakeholders from across government and local organizations. Thanks to the bold leadership of the Sierra Leone government, we have a formal agreement to serve 750 schools by the end of 2026, with an eye to eventual national scale.

###### Current Impact At a Glance

### Students

# 53,669

### Schools (+solar)

270

### Tablets

# 13,199

### Teachers Trained

# 2,445

###### 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 public primary schools (2021):** 5,616  
**Number of primary school children (2021)**: 1,964,346  
**Primary school completion rate (2024)**: 67%  
**Pupil/Teacher ratio (national):** 40:1

###### Sierra Leone Partners

##### [onebillion](https://onebillion.org/)

Locations:
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania

Role:
Software

##### [Rising Academy Network](https://www.risingacademies.com/)

Locations:
Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone

Role:
Implementation

##### [EducAid](https://www.educaid.org.uk/)

Location:
Sierra Leone

Role:
Implementation

##### [SEND Sierra Leone](https://sendsierraleone.com/)

Location:
Sierra Leone

Role:
Implementation

##### [Plan International Sierra Leone](https://plan-international.org/sierra-leone/)

Location:
Sierra Leone

Role:
Implementation

##### [Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)](https://www.vsointernational.org/fighting-poverty/where-we-fight-poverty/malawi)

Locations:
Malawi, Sierra Leone

Role:
Implementation