Tailoring education by learning level for primary school children to improve their core skills in Côte d’Ivoire 

In Côte d'Ivoire, primary education has been compulsory since 2015, resulting in a 100% school enrollment rate (World Bank Group, 2024). However, significant gaps in learning remain: According to a report by the World Bank Group in 2024, 82% of children in Côte d'Ivoire were unable to read upon completing their primary education, suggesting that the vast majority of children leave primary school without basic reading and writing skills.

In light of these challenges, the Ministry of National Education and Literacy has committed to improving the learning outcomes of primary school children, in particular by institutionalizing its Targeted Education Program (« PEC : Programme d’Education Ciblée » in French). Initially part of a small-scale pilot supported by the NGO TaRL Africa, this program is now a central pillar of the National Program for the Improvement of Early School Learning ("PNAPAS : Programme National d’Appui aux Premiers Apprentissages Scolaires" in french), led by the MENA, with financial support from the World Bank Group.

This teaching approach provides targeted support for pupils who have fallen behind in primary school, from the third to sixth grade. It focuses on identifying learning needs and adapting teaching methods accordingly. For an hour and a half each day, six months a year, children from grades three to six are organized into groups according to their level of ability, with teachers focusing on French reading and math skills. According to impact evaluations conducted in India, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal, this educational approach, (known as "Teaching at the Right Level") significantly improves student learning outcomes. Evaluations of trials led by teachers in India and Africa have demonstrated increased test scores of 0.07 to 0.25 standard deviations, while learning camps run by volunteers in India have achieved standard deviation increases of up to 0.7 (Banerjee et al., 2007; 2016; Duflo et al., 2020). Moreover, the impact of this program varies when implemented within existing government systems, with a 0.15 standard deviation increase in reading scores in India (Banerjee et al. 2016), and a 0.13 standard deviation increase in mathematics, as well as a 0.07 standard deviation increase in English in Ghana (Beg et al. 2023).

Based on the results achieved in various regions, in 2023 and 2024, TaRL Africa expanded the program to 267 schools in northern Côte d'Ivoire, with support from FID. This program is particularly innovative because it incorporates the specific regional context in more rural areas where various languages are spoken, based on three key areas of experimentation and innovation:

• the establishment of a regional governance system to implement and monitor the program, with more clearly defined roles for stakeholders;
• the development of a viable and cost-effective teacher training system, by comparing a centralized training system coordinated by the government ministry with a decentralized model, supervised by regional public services across the country;
• Finally, a bilingual approach was trialed in three pilot schools, using the most widely spoken language, Malinke, to complement French language classes taught in French.

The next phase marks a key turning point for the PNAPAS program, compared to the previous stages of the TaRL program implemented in Côte d'Ivoire, with its expansion from around 3,500 schools to over 18,000 schools (reaching more than 3 million children) from September 2025. This large-scale expansion over a broad geographical area presents a major challenge in terms of replicating the initial program and ensuring its continued impact. FID will continue to provide financial support throughout this expansion phase, with an additional grant to address the challenges of sustaining this impact on a large scale.

The first grant provided essential support for trialing a decentralized model of the Targeted Education Program in northern Côte d'Ivoire. This pilot will serve as the template for the nationwide rollout of the PNAPAS, while helping to build capacities in a new geographical region.

The results, lessons learned and recommendations from the PEC's expansion to northern Côte d'Ivoire have been incorporated into the scale-up process, with particular emphasis on the following points:

• Recommendations for institutionalizing regional coordination, developing regional action plans in accordance with budgets, and improving communication on a national and regional scale, have been taken into account in the PNAPAS roll-out, in line with the overall action plan and the budget process of the Regional Directorate for National Education and Literacy (DRENA). The new phase will therefore include capacity-building of regional and national institutions.
• The decentralized training models for teachers and mentors have been incorporated into the PNAPAS, with plans to deploy teacher trainers on a regional scale, optimize training locations and schedules, and adapt trainer-to-trainee ratios to find the right balance between cost and quality.
• Finally, at the dissemination workshop held in May 2025, the Ministry of National Education and Literacy recognized the need for greater focus on local languages in teaching. As a result, in the new funding phase, the team will share best practices for local language teaching during field visits to ensure the quality of the program's implementation, where necessary.

• The Regional Directorates for National Education and Literacy (DRENAs) will build their capacities and implement the program as closely in line with the plans as possible, to achieve the same impact, through capacity-building initiatives tailored to their needs and by focusing on peer-to-peer exchange between these institutions.
• National data systems will produce useable, up-to-date information to support continuous improvement in terms of implementation and ownership.
• A learning agenda, led in conjunction with the MENA, will be implemented to facilitate learning throughout the implementation period and inform the Ministry’s decisions during and after the program. This agenda will focus on answering three research questions: 1) Is the impact of the TaRL program sustainable when implemented on a nationwide scale? 2) What are the implications of less NGO oversight on the quality of large-scale implementation? 3) What technical support is (or is not) useful when implementing national education reform?
• TaRL as an organization will gradually step back from the program, by implementing a specific strategy, throughout the new phase, to ensure its sustainability and encourage institutions to take ownership of the approach.