Senegal Validates National Strategy to Scale Up Bilingual Education Model

By Mintesinot Nigussie  |  September 9, 2026

Senegal has adopted a national advocacy strategy to institutionalise and expand its Harmonised Bilingual Education Model, marking a shift from a pilot education reform towards a government-led national programme focused on improving foundational learning.

The strategy was validated at the Diamniadio Ministerial Sphere under the leadership of the Ministry of National Education. It brings together government ministries, local authorities, development partners, civil society organisations, researchers, communities, young people, the private sector and media organisations around a common framework for expanding the model.

Known as MOHEBS, the bilingual education model has produced measurable gains in early-grade learning. An independent evaluation by RTI International in 2023 found a 29-percentage-point improvement in oral reading and comprehension among pupils using the model compared with those taught exclusively in French.

The model has now been introduced across Senegal’s 18 education academies, reaching more than 640,000 pupils in the first two primary grades. The programme is supported by 12,116 trained teachers, 7,327 school principals and 339 inspectors, while pupils have received textbooks in national languages.

The newly adopted strategy is centred on three priorities: strengthening the institutional integration of MOHEBS, securing sustainable domestic financing for its expansion and long-term operation, and building wider public and community support for the reform.

Around 100 representatives participated in the validation session, including officials from the education ministry and other government institutions, development partners, civil society, researchers, local authorities, private-sector representatives and media organisations. The meeting also established monitoring, coordination and accountability mechanisms to support implementation of the strategy.

"Our ambition is clear: to make MOHEBS an institutionalized reform, sustainably financed, progressively scaled up, evaluated and collectively championed by the Nation," said Papa Malick Ndao, secretary-general of the Ministry of National Education. "It is on this condition that we will help build Senegal's school system of 2035."

Astou Fall, programmes director at Speak Up Africa, which supported the Directorate of Elementary Education in developing the strategy, said the next challenge was to sustain, expand and firmly embed the reform within the education system.

The strategy will now serve as Senegal’s national framework for mobilisation, coordination and advocacy around the expansion of MOHEBS. The initiative also forms part of wider efforts to advance foundational learning in Africa and supports the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education.

Source: FSX Business News