Senegal elementary students improve reading skills in 2024 assessment

Senegalese primary school students achieved a 72 percent success rate in reaching minimum reading standards according to the 2024 PASEC assessment.

This score exceeds both the regional average of 59.5 percent and the international average of 577.7 points. The results show a notable improvement from 2019, when only 11 percent of students in their third year of school mastered reading. While reading scores rose, students struggled more with mathematics at the end of primary school.

Only 59.6 percent of students reached the minimum level in math, and nearly four in ten students failed to master expected mathematical skills. These findings influenced the Confemen and the Gates Foundation to organize a meeting in Dakar in January 2025 to develop strategies for improving primary education. The ministry of National Education attributes these early reading gains to the Harmonized Model of Bilingual Teaching in Senegal (MOHEBS).

The ministry plans to scale up this model through a national advocacy strategy validated in Diamniadio. To address ongoing math difficulties, the report recommends targeted remediation, regular progress monitoring, and better training for teachers in mathematics.