Over 1.6 billion students were affected by Covid-19 school closures, with an estimated global average of 14 weeks of school lost (UNESCO, 2021). This compounded a learning crisis that existed before the pandemic and has increased inequality, as the most marginalized were often left without structured learning for longer periods (Brookings, 2022). With nearly 90% of countries utilizing some form…
Photo 1: Image showing a school in Sierra Leone. Photo credit: Chris McBurnie (EdTechHub) In Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) are developing plans to increase the equity and efficiency of teacher allocation. Over the past few years, the government has struggled to retain qualified teachers in remote and…
In Sierra Leone, the education data landscape has continued to grow and expand, with the government focusing on using data for decision-making now more than ever. Since the launch of the Free Quality School Education (FQSE) programme in 2018, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and the Teaching Service Commission have prioritised collecting and using this data to…
Learnings from our Sandbox Quality education requires a strong teaching workforce. And one of the most effective interventions in impacting learner achievement in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are teacher education programmes Evans & Popova (2015). To this end, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) in Sierra Leone is planning to roll out a tech-supported teacher continuous professional development (TCPD) programme…
A small group of primary school teachers in Makeni, Sierra Leone, huddle around a table in the principal’s office. Each holds a set of brightly coloured sticky notes that describes the teaching experience, payroll status, family background, and qualifications of three teachers — Sheku, Hawa, and Aminata. The group is debating how to allocate these teachers to a set of…
Historically, the Sierra Leonean government has struggled to attract teachers to work in the most hard-to-reach areas of the country. Today, the country’s education system has one of the highest pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratios in West Africa. The challenge of attracting teachers is most acute for schools in rural locations. Here, the pupil-to-qualified-teacher ratio currently sits at 76:1. This ratio compares to…
In Part 2 of our strategy, we go deeper into EdTech Hub’s integrated approach to how we work, where we work, and how that comes together with our topics to inform our theory of change. Verna Lalbeharie, Executive Director The EdTech Hub integrated approach We do research because it is imperative to build deep quantitative and qualitative insight regarding how…
For the last five months, EdTech Hub has been exploring and refining our strategy for advancing evidence in EdTech for low- and middle-income countries. We invite you to explore our thinking for how we will carry out this mission within our context and in partnership with the global EdTech community. Verna Lalbeharie, Executive Director Acknowledgements Thank you to all of…
In Sierra Leone, EdTech Hub has partnered with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education to increase the use of evidence in decisions around EdTech. Over the past year, we have supported the ministry in a number of areas ranging from the development of the One Tablet Per School data management system and a data visualisation toolkit to the…
