Sierra Leone

MDG Goal 2 - Archive Universal Primary Education

 Background

 

Goal	Relevant Target
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education	Target 3: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

The indicators associated with these two goals include:

Net enrolment ratio in primary education

Proportion of pupils starting grade 1 who reach grade 5

Literacy rate of 15 to 24 year olds

Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education

Ratio of literate females to males among 15 to 24 year olds.

The GOSL has committed itself to achieving these goals and to improving the quality of education at all levels. In fact, the Education Act 2004 requires all children to complete basic education, defined as six years of primary school and three years of junior secondary school.

The early post-independence era was a period of optimism and rapid change for education for Sierra Leone. Enrolments grew during this period, and though missions largely retained control of the schools they had founded, the Government of Sierra Leone played an increasingly important role.

Consequently, enrolment in Class 1 of primary education increased from 260,000 in 2004 to 355,300 in 2005, representing 87 percent net primary school enrolment. National Primary School Examination passes increased from 43,400 in 2004 to 55,800 in 2005 (increase of 29 percent). Correspondingly, the number of girls passing the primary examination also increased from 5,176 in 2004 to 20,062 in 2005 (nearly four times the 2004 figure). JSS net enrolment rate increased from 13 percent in 2004 to 44.0 percent in 2005, a most encouraging improvement. Primary completion rate increased from 60 percent in 2004 to 73 percent in 2005 (calculated at 6-year interval).

The primary pupil/teacher ratio deteriorated from 52:1 in 2004 to about 67:1 in 2005. This increase can be attributed to increased gross enrolment in primary school, and the ceiling placed on recruitment of teachers. Clearly, there is a need to employ more teachers for primary school. The medium term target of 30:1 JSS pupil-teacher ratio was achieved in 2005, from a ratio of 28:1 in 2004, which was deemed low for Junior Secondary. The increase was achieved through improved enrolment, especially through programmes like the “Free Examination Fee” and “Girl Child Education” that increased retention of those enrolled.

The ratio of girls to boys in primary education was maintained in 2005 from 1:1.2 in 2004 as against the medium term target of 1:1.1. Improvement has been made in the ratio of girls to boys in JSS, reducing from 1:1.5 to 1:1.4, while the primary textbook-pupil ratio in the five weakest districts also fell from 1:5 to 1:4.

The SL-PRSP clearly recognized the need for efficient post-basic education to meet the human resource needs for key poverty reduction programs. The poverty profile shows that the incidence of poverty is 17 percent for households with a head attaining a university education compared to 63 percent for households with heads attaining primary education and 52 percent for households with heads attaining junior secondary school. The activities undertaken under the SL-PRSP for 2005 did not focus on Post-Basic Education.

Policies since 2000 seem to have redressed the trend for the Primary School Enrolment indicator. Nonetheless, the growth in enrolment is still slow, if the MDG target is to be met by 2015. From the baseline level of 43% in 1990, a Net Primary School Attendance rate of 69% is reported in the MICS3. This indicator does not apparently correlate well with the Net Enrolment Ratio (which is the MDG target). The GER for 2001 reported in the SL-PRSP was 90.4%, an improvement from the 1990 level of 51%. More statistical evidence is therefore needed to properly assess the state of progress on this indicator.

Source: MEST

Priority Areas
A review of the basic education program should integrate the expansion of current infrastructure as well as a sustained recruitment of teachers and their regular in-service training. To improve the quality of education outcomes, the provision of better teaching and learning materials is a necessary strategy, complemented perhaps by regular curriculum reviews.

Like in the basic education sub-sector, an effort to expand and improve infrastructure in the post-basic sub-sector will become a felt need as more success is recorded in the basic cycle.

Other important issues necessary for better educational outcomes include addressing the high adult illiteracy rate (especially among women) through the provision of special programs, using, where possible, new technologies to facilitate adult learning. The 2007 SL-HDR reports a Female Adult Literacy rate of only 23%, compared to 46% for Males.

Assessment of Needs and Cost for Education
The needs assessment and costing for education includes pre-primary, primary, secondary education and adult literacy programmes. A year before this needs assessment, Sierra Leone completed an education sector plan (see below) which comprehensively projected recurrent costs for the sector. The MDG needs assessment also projects costs for capital expenditure.

The MDGNA costs show what is needed in terms of infrastructure (classrooms, desks, chairs etc), human resources (teachers), facilities (laboratory, library, sport centres, etc.) and financial incentives (school subsidies for girls, for example) for all levels of education except tertiary education. The education MDG targets refer to net and gross enrolment and primary school completion. However, the UN Millennium Project Education Task Force also noted the importance of secondary schooling as a necessary complement for basic education, hence its inclusion in the costing.

The gradual rise reflected in the MDG projected costs over the period 2006-2015 is a manifestation of increasing enrolment in primary schools, and an anticipated much faster increased enrolment at the Junior Secondary level in the coming years. There are at present almost 1.3 million children in the primary level. With the implementation of the MDG-based PRS, and introduction of the essential learning package which would ensure a much higher completion rate at the primary level, most of the over 1 million children now in the primary schools will graduate into the Junior Secondary Schools. Therefore plans must be made to absorb this large cohort of children into secondary schools. It is noteworthy that the cost projections model adequately takes care of this concern.

Table 2.3.3 Total Education Cost, Recurrent and Capital (US$ million)

Sub-Sector	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Pre-Primary	0.3	2.2	3.2	4.5	6.4	9.1	13.0	18.9	28.4	45.0
Primary	30.8	47.7	56.0	59.5	57.2	59.8	62.1	64.5	67.2	91.8
Secondary	10.1	14.8	17.7	19.5	21.4	21.9	23.5	25.2	27.0	30.8
Adult Literacy	11.6	13.4	11.4	11.8	12.2	12.8	13.4	14.2	15.0	16.0
Total	52.8	78.0	88.3	95.3	97.3	103.5	112.0	122.8	137.6	183.7

Source: MDGNA and Costing, June 2007

The amount of money already endorsed by donors for the education sector will provide sufficient funds to cover the interventions that have been identified in this exercise.

Education Sector Plan. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) prepared an Education Sector Plan (ESP), projecting recurrent costs for the sector up to 2015 (Table 2.3.4). Costs were estimated with achievement of the MDGs in mind. The ESP costs are however different from the MDGNA costs: the MDGNA costs are higher, since MDGNA projects both capital and recurrent costs, while the ESP showed only recurrent costs. The ESP costs start from about US$50 million in 2007 and reach US$93 million in 2015; the MDGNA costings are about US$78 million in 2007, reaching US$184 million in 2015.

Table 2.3.4 Extract from Education Sector Plan - Estimated Recurrent Cost of Financing the ESP, 2007-2015

Summary (millions of Leones)	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	Total 2007-15
Primary
Primary school	68,928	72,957	77,084	81,306	89,438	98,368	108,197	119,043	131,042	846,363
Pre-service teacher training	930	956	983	674	693	713	733	754	776	7,214
In-service teacher training	445	457	470	484	497	511	526	541	556	4,487
Total Primary	70,303	74,371	78,538	82,464	90,629	99,592	109,456	119,043	131,042	855,437
Other levels
Preschool	593	756	941	1,150	1,386	1,651	1,948	2,280	2,649	13,354
Junior Secondary School	27,317	29,933	32,622	35,390	38,243	41,184	44,221	47,360	50,608	346,878
Senior Secondary School	9,245	10,274	11,352	12,481	13,665	14,909	16,217	17,595	19,048	124,786
Technical & Vocational Centres	10,583	11,972	13,484	15,132	16,893	18,809	20,898	23,180	25,677	156,627
Literacy & Non formal education	141	148	156	163	172	180	189	199	209	1,557
Higher education and Research	29,711	31,210	32,803	34,496	36,296	38,212	40,253	42,427	44,744	330,151
Total other levels	78,086	84,804	91,882	99,353	107,210	115,517	124,314	133,644	143,557	978,367
Total	148,389	159,174	170,420	181,816	197,839	215,109	233,770	252,687	274,599	1,833,804
Total recurrent spending as a % of GDP	4.4%	4.5%	4.6%	4.7%	4.9%	5.0%	5.2%	5.4%	5.5%
Total (US$ millions)	50.3	54.0	57.8	61.6	67.1	72.9	79.2	85.7	93.1	621.6
Summary (% of total costs)
Primary	47.4%	46.7%	46.1%	45.4%	45.8%	46.3%	46.8%	47.1%	47.7%
Other Levels	52.6%	53.3%	53.9%	54.6%	54.2%	53.7%	53.2%	52.9%	52.3%

Source: Ministry of Education, Education Sector Plan, 2007