Guinea-Bissau: The Quality Education for All Project

The development objective of the Quality Education for All Project for Guinea Bissau is to improve the teaching and learning environment in grades 1 to 4 in targeted schools in Guinea-Bissau. The project comprises of three components. The first component, strengthen school-based management practices and empower communities aims to improve the teaching and learning environment in targeted schools by: encouraging greater community participation in school management; and by providing fiscal resources at the school-level to purchase basic supplies, pedagogical materials, and to cover operating costs. It consists of following sub-components: (i) establishment of school management committees (SMCs); (ii) school grants program; and (iii) school inspection and system monitoring and evaluation. The second component, improve the quality of instruction will: (i) establish standards and harmonize the system for teacher training in order to reduce the frequency of teacher strikes; (ii) update the school curriculum; (iii) improve in-service teachers’ content knowledge and skills to effectively teach basic literacy and numeracy; and (iv) improve student learning outcomes in Portuguese and Mathematics in early grades. It consists of following sub-components: (i) teacher certification; (ii) in-service teacher training; (iii) scripted teaching lessons and interactive audio instruction (IAI); and (iv) learning materials for the new curriculum in grades 1 to 4. The third component, learning materials for the new curriculum in grades 1 to 4 aim is to improve the overall functioning of the education system by increasing the availability of data to guide decision-making and by strengthening the overall capacity of the ministry of education. It consists of following sub-components: (i) sector studies; and (ii) project management.