EducAid Sierra Leone

11/06/2026

“One of the things I appreciate most about EducAid is its commitment to education. There is always a focus on learners being in school, learners being safe and learning.”

At the District of Excellence Launch in Falaba District (22/05/26), Sierra Leone’s Chief Education Officer, Edward Kpakra, recognised EducAid’s contribution to improving education outcomes and reducing learning poverty, highlighting the partnership between EducAid and the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education in advancing a shared goal: ensuring that all children are in school, safe and learning.

www.educaid.org.uk

10/06/2026

08/06/2026

An EducAid song from World Environment Day! 🎶

Last week, for World Environment Day, we joined partners including Freetown Innovation Lab, Teach For Sierra Leone, Access Bank SL, the Centre for Community Impact and Sustainability, the Environmental Protection Agency Sierra Leone, and the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs for climate action across Freetown.

The day brought together collaboration and shared commitment to a greener future - from a beach clean-up spanning Aberdeen to Lumley, to community climate awareness outreach as well as conversations on recycling and waste management at the beach, and the launch of Freetown’s new Waste Recycling Facility!

Right in the middle of it all, EducAid alumni, staff and students gathered in the heart of the celebrations and broke into an EducAid school song, performed with joy and energy!
Such a special moment to start off the week 💚

Find out more about EducAid: www.educaid.org.uk

05/06/2026

🌍 World Environment Day

Today, EducAid joined Freetown Innovation Lab and partners for a beach clean-up and climate action day in Freetown.

Together with organisations including Teach For Sierra Leone, Access Bank SL, the Centre for Community Impact and Sustainability, the Environmental Protection Agency Sierra Leone, and the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, we came together with one shared message: protecting our environment is everyone’s responsibility.

Across the day, activities included a beach clean-up from Aberdeen to Lumley, community climate awareness outreach from Jui to Aberdeen, and hands-on conversations about recycling and waste management at the beach. The launch of Freetown’s new Waste Recycling Facility also marked an important step forward in strengthening local environmental action.

Thank you to everyone who took part and helped make the day possible!

02/06/2026

What does it look like to strengthen education systems district by district? 🇸🇱

On 22nd May in Falaba District, government representatives, school leaders, communities, and development partners came together with their shared commitment to improving learning outcomes for children across Sierra Leone.

In the District of Excellence programme, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, EducAid Sierra Leone, and other development partners are working collaboratively to strengthen foundational learning, support schools and teachers, and improve coordination and accountability at district level.

Too often, education improvement efforts can feel fragmented. The District of Excellence approach focuses instead on practical collaboration, uniting schools, communities, local leadership, and education stakeholders around shared goals for teaching and learning.
We are excited to continue supporting this work in Falaba District alongside the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and the Embassy of Ireland.

Image shows the current implementation of the District of Excellence project and its tools and approaches in Sierra Leone, as of May 2026.

Find out more about EducAid: www.educaid.org.uk

29/05/2026

Hear from Finnah at EducAid Lumley!

In this video, Finnah reflects on her experiences working at EducAid as a teacher and the importance of supporting students to learn, grow and thrive each day. From encouraging learners in the classroom to helping create a positive school environment, her story highlights the dedication and care of EducAid staff across our school communities. 💚

Watch to hear more!

www.educaid.org.uk

28/05/2026

Introducing the first edition of the EducAid Snapshot 🇸🇱

We’re pleased to share a new monthly update bringing together insights, stories and key developments from across EducAid’s schools and programmes in Sierra Leone.

The aim is to keep our partners, supporters and wider community connected to the work taking place every day across our schools and communities.

We’ll be sharing a new edition each month, with updates, stories, and moments of learning and impact from across our programmes. We hope you’ll subscribe and follow along!

Read the first edition here: https://mailchi.mp/51ae416ff12f/kw550pmem1-5826390?e=[UNIQID]

27/05/2026

🍲 Preparing cassava leaf stew at EducAid!

Across EducAid’s school sites in Sierra Leone, students take turns on a rotating basis to support cooking staff in preparing school meals. These moments offer hands-on learning in practical cooking, as well as valuable skills in teamwork, responsibility and collaboration.

School meals play a vital role in helping students stay focused, healthy and ready to learn throughout the school day. Last year alone, EducAid provided more than 630,000 school meals across our sites.

Behind the scenes, it’s a shared effort where staff and students work together to create safe, supportive school environments where young people can learn, grow and thrive 💚

Find out more about EducAid: www.educaid.org.uk

23/05/2026

Launching the District of Excellence Project to Falaba District!

Yesterday, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and EducAid Sierra Leone officially launched the District of Excellence Programme in Falaba District, with the generous support of the Embassy of Ireland. Through the District of Excellence, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education SL, EducAid and partners are working to strengthen education district by district.

The launch brought together multiple education stakeholders - from the government (including Deputy Minister of MBSSE; Emily Gogra, Chief Education Officer Mr. Edward Kapkra, Director of School Quality Assurance Management and Resources; Alpha Bangura), paramount chiefs, community, schools and development partners - reflecting strong collective commitment to improving education outcomes across Falaba District.

MAF, EducAid’s District of Excellence Project Coordinator for Falaba said “I’m so happy how the whole programme is going. Starting from the coordination, organisation and massive turnout to all those we invited. This is such an opportunity to positively contribute to Falaba District!”

The launch marks an important milestone for Falaba District, as partners come together to reaffirm a shared commitment to practical, coordinated action to strengthen education systems and improve learning outcomes for all children.

Find out more about EducAid: www.educaid.org.uk

22/05/2026

On 20th May at the Google offices in London, fresh evidence from Sierra Leone relating to quality assurance for AI in education in LMICs (low-to-middle-income countries) was presented during . The study (linked below), “Teaching with Gemini: Measuring the impact of Guided Learning on student mathematics progress in Sierra Leone” is one of the first major research studies exploring the impact of AI-supported learning in a low-income education setting.

Over eight weeks, nearly 1,800 Junior Secondary School students across Sierra Leone participated in a randomised controlled trial exploring how Gemini-powered Guided Learning could support maths learning outcomes.

The findings are significant.

Students using the tool demonstrated substantial improvements in externally validated maths assessments, with learning gains equivalent to approximately 1.2–1.7 years of typical progress in low- and middle-income countries in just eight weeks. Engagement levels were high, illustrating the importance of strong, local implementation.

As in-country implementation and data collection partners, working with Fab AI, Gates Foundation, Google DeepMind, Laterite, Oxford MeasurEd, EducAid contributed practical, on-the-ground expertise and experience to explore how emerging AI tools may support learning responsibly in Sierra Leone.
Importantly, this work helps ensure that the future of AI in education is shaped by schools, educators, and learners in multiple contexts. Too often, conversations around innovation and emerging technologies happen without the perspectives and realities of lower-resource contexts being represented. This study helps change that.

We are thrilled that Sierra Leone is leading the way and contributing directly to the rapidly-evolving global evidence base on the future of learning.

Thank you to all of EducAid’s team, especially (Ibrahim Alhaji Fortune, LA, Miriam Mason, Erin Northey) partners Fab AI - Ignacio Roman Muñoz, Jared Lee, María José Ogando Portela, Natalia Valdes Aspillaga, Paul Atherton, Tomas Koutecky and Usman Khawar, schools, teachers, and students involved in this important work.

The event included important insights and inspirational words from Ben Piper, Dayoung Lee, Conrad Sackey - Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Irina Jurenka, Wongani Grace Nkhoma-Sankofa, Paul Atherton.

Read the full technical report:https://storage.googleapis.com/deepmind-media/LearnLM/learnLM_sierraleone_may26.pdf