Sierra Leone’s Education Boosted by PBF, but Equity and Capacity Gaps Remain

The World Bank’s report on Sierra Leone’s Performance-Based Financing (PBF) shows that linking school grants to performance improved enrolment, attendance, teaching activity, textbook distribution, and school governance between 2022 and 2024. However, persistent equity gaps, regional disparities, and implementation challenges highlight the need for stronger capacity-building and tailored reforms.

The World Bank, working closely with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE), the Free Education Project Secretariat (FEPS), and the Directorate of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI), has released a groundbreaking report on the effects of Performance-Based Financing (PBF) on the country’s primary schools. Covering 2022 to 2024 and drawing on five rounds of monitoring, the study assessed 5,074 full-cycle primary schools to understand how linking funding to results is reshaping education. Conducted under the Education Global Practice for the West Africa Region, the research represents one of the most detailed explorations of education financing reforms in West Africa.

Rising Enrolment and Attendance

One of the report’s most striking findings is the increase in student enrolment and attendance. Average enrolment in PBF schools rose by 17.5 percent in just two years, from 302 pupils per school in 2022 to 355 in 2024. While Sierra Leone’s 2018 tuition-free education policy is a major driver behind this, PBF has reinforced the upward trend by making schools more accountable. Attendance also improved, climbing 2.2 percentage points overall. On paper, the change looks modest, but in real terms, it means more than 300,000 additional children were regularly in classrooms. Gains were strongest in lower and middle grades, while Grade 6 attendance declined, an alarming trend that researchers say needs immediate policy attention.

Teachers and Learning Materials Show Gains

The PBF initiative also nudged teacher performance in the right direction. Teacher presence at schools increased from 88.8 to 90.1 percent, while the proportion of teachers actually engaged in teaching rose from 86.1 to 89.2 percent. In practice, this represents nearly 1,100 more teachers actively instructing students than before the program. Another standout achievement came in textbook distribution. Schools, previously reluctant to let children take books from storage, were incentivized to place them directly into students’ hands. The results were dramatic: textbook access jumped from 71 percent to 95 percent in just two years. However, not all teaching indicators improved. The share of teachers with lesson plans stagnated and even declined slightly, highlighting that while learning materials were better distributed, pedagogy itself did not progress as hoped.

Strengthening School Governance

Beyond classrooms, the PBF program fostered important changes in how schools are managed. More institutions began developing and maintaining School Investment Plans, with the share of schools preparing these plans rising by over three percentage points. Record-keeping improved significantly: schools keeping detailed financial accounts and displaying summaries publicly increased from 65 to 83 percent. Visible signboards showing school names became more common, rising from 64 to 73 percent, signaling stronger community engagement. In parallel, more schools convened School Management Committees (SMCs) and held staff meetings, creating platforms where parents, teachers, and headteachers could discuss progress and performance. Though seemingly procedural, these practices mark a cultural shift towards structured, accountable management that could anchor long-term educational reforms.

Equity and Regional Gaps Persist

Despite its pro-poor design, PBF has not eliminated inequalities. The scheme included equity premiums for disadvantaged schools, those in poor communities, very small schools, unapproved schools, or institutions serving children with disabilities. Yet disparities between poor and wealthier communities widened over the two years. Schools in affluent areas began outperforming those in poorer regions in attendance, while teacher performance gaps, once favoring poor schools, closed as better-resourced schools improved more quickly. Regional variations were even more pronounced. Schools in the Western and North-Western regions made strong gains, but those in the Southern region stagnated and in some cases declined. The report stresses that one-size-fits-all funding formulas cannot address these realities and urges tailored interventions to ensure poorer and weaker regions are not left behind.

Challenges and Lessons for the Future

The program faced daunting implementation hurdles. Coordination between MBSSE, FEPS, and DSTI was weak, and outsourcing the crucial task of grant calculations led to errors and delays. Some calculations even ignored School Investment Plans, undermining the formula’s credibility. Rural schools struggled with late payments due to banking delays, while some attempted to route funds through personal accounts, raising risks of misuse. At the school level, SMCs often lacked legitimacy and capacity, with members serving beyond legal terms and female participation remaining low. Training for SMC members was inconsistent, and many were unclear about their roles. Data collection, though digitalized, was hampered by network issues and flawed methodologies, particularly for learning outcomes, which had to be excluded from the final analysis.

From these shortcomings, the authors draw urgent lessons. They recommend building in-house capacity for grant calculations, producing regular school report cards, and expanding continuous training for SMCs. The use of artificial intelligence to grade learning assessments is suggested as a way to reduce bias and improve reliability. Equally important, the program must be adapted to address regional disparities and ensure equity mechanisms truly benefit the poorest schools. Only with these adjustments, the report warns, can PBF avoid reinforcing existing inequalities.

A Cautiously Optimistic Path Forward

The Sierra Leone experience offers a nuanced picture. Performance-Based Financing has proven capable of changing school behavior: boosting enrolment, improving attendance, putting textbooks in children’s hands, and strengthening financial transparency. It has also shown that even modest financial incentives can drive better governance and accountability. Yet sustaining these achievements will require overcoming institutional weaknesses and addressing persistent inequities. For a country where more than 60 percent of children cannot read a simple passage by grade two, the stakes are enormous. The report concludes that with persistence, transparency, and targeted support, PBF could become a transformative model not just for Sierra Leone but for other education systems across Africa facing similar challenges.