Ei-iE

The 25th of September marks the first day of the 2023-2024 school year in Cote d’Ivoire. For the last seven years, the day has been one filled with ceremonies for students, teachers, and parents. This is because since 2016, the Ministry of Education has held official ceremonies in each of the four regions of the country to signify that each child enrolled in primary education would receive a school kit on the first day of the new academic year.

The kits, composed of a backpack, textbook, notebook, and pens, are part of an effort by the government of Cote d’Ivoire to give the most vulnerable students the opportunity to start the school year at ease. This sentiment was one that was reiterated by all speakers throughout the day’s central launch ceremony in Songon, Abidjan, where the Prime Minister, Patrick Achi, and the Minister of Education and Literacy, Mariatou Koné, emphasied how the kits symbolise the efforts being made across the country to create equitable learning conditions for all.

Ahead of a two-day learning seminar in Grand Bassam held within the scope of Education International’s Teacher-led Learning Circle for Formative Assessment (T3LFA) project, SNEPPCI, alongside Education International, were present at the central launch ceremony. Together, SNEPPCI and EI had the opportunity to speak with the Minister of Education and Literacy, Mariatou Koné, about how the T3LFA project could contribute to the government’s goal of building an education system that creates citizens that can positively transform Cote d’Ivoire.

At the event, Martin Henry, Research, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at EI, explained to Minister Koné that with support from Jacobs Foundation the project aims to provide teachers in Cote d’Ivoire with tools and support to identify and establish effective teacher-led formative assessment practices that can be disseminated within and across education unions. Minister Koné agreed that formative assessment is an indispensable tool for evaluating the skills and assets of each student as an individual. The Minister further outlined that she was looking forward to the SNEPPCI and EI delegation meeting with individuals from her office later that day to advocate for the kind of continuous professional learning and development introduced by the project.

Later that afternoon, after visiting the SNEPPCI offices, EI alongside SNEPPCI had productive meetings with Anastasie Kacou Sepou, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Education and Literacy, as well as Coulibaly Adama, General Coordinator of General Inspection at the Ministry of Education and Literacy. Whilst Coulibaly Adama, General Coordinator of General Inspection at the Ministry of Education and Literacy, highlighted that formative assessment would be crucial to complementing current forms of assessment in place in Cote d’Ivoire, Anastasie Kacou Sepou, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Education and Literacy, clarified the concrete steps that the Ministry could take to disseminate the learnings from the T3LFA project across the country. In particular, Deputy Chief of Staff Sepou noted that once the final outputs of the project had been shared, the Ministry will consider how key learnings on developing promising formative assessment practice through teacher-led learning circles could be introduced in its planning meeting ahead of the following academic year.

Both SNEPPCI and EI left the meetings at the Ministry’s offices in Abidjan optimistic. Advocacy efforts must continue to ensure that the Ministry of Education and Literacy makes space and dedicated institutional time for continuous professional learning and development to allow teachers to experiment with promising formative assessment practices in Cote d’Ivoire.

See pictures from the day here! Want to find out more about our learning event in Cote d’Ivoire or even learn about the work that is taking place across our six other project countries? Take a look at the Teacher-led Learning Circles for Formative Assessment page.