Basic Education Strengthening Project

The development objective of Basic Education Strengthening Project is to improve student retention and teaching quality in junior secondary schools in targeted community councils of Lesotho and support the roll out of a new curriculum to strengthen Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) service delivery. This project has three components. 1) The first component, Improving student retention in junior secondary education, has the following sub-components: (i) Improving the efficiency of cash transfer schemes for students from poor households; (ii) Scaling up implementation of youth clubs for girls and boys; and (iii) Strengthening online training models in mathematics and science for junior secondary school teachers. 2) The second component, System strengthening to improve ECCD service delivery, has the following sub-components: (i) Structured support to roll out the new curriculum in reception classes and ECCD centers; and (ii) Mapping of ECCD service providers and developing a comprehensive, costed expansion strategy for the ECCD sector. 3) The third component, Project management, capacity building and technical assistance, aims at strengthening Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) and Ministry of Social Development (MoSD’s) institutional capacities to implement the BESP.