Education: how generations of women have been failed by the system
- ellenarnison
- Apr 25
- 3 min read
Prosper's training has been developed to help participants with low levels of literacy - a problem Sierra Leone has struggled with for decades
Two thirds of Prosper's 2024 programme participants had no formal education, leaving them ill-equipped to support themselves.
In Sierra Leone, a little over half of all adults are illiterate with only 41.3% of women able to read and write. This positions it among some of the least literate countries in the world – the average for Sub-Saharan Africa being 65% and the global average 86.3%.
The situation is better among younger people, with literacy for those aged between 15 and 24 sitting at 73.5%, although for young women it is 71.7%.
Although these nationwide figures show the country’s poor position, they don’t take into account the disparity between urban and rural areas. The most recent figures, from 2004, showed that in cities literacy levels for men were 76% compared to urban areas where levels were as low as 14% for women. While it has been an improving picture since then, it is safe to assume levels are significantly lower in rural areas.
The UNESCO standard definition of illiteracy is when a person can’t read and write a simple sentence in any language about their everyday life. Clearly, this significantly impairs someone’s change of getting work or ability to set up and run a small business, leaving them in poverty.
The picture is getting better in Sierra Leone with more children attending school each year. Recent figures suggest that 96.7% of children complete their primary – aged six to 12 – education. These numbers reduce at junior and then further at senior secondary school level.
President Julius Maada Bio was elected in 2018 and a key part of his campaign was to implement free primary and secondary education for all children. In his first month of office, he launched the Free Quality School Education Initiative. He followed this up with the Basic and Senior Secondary Education Act 2023 to reinforce education as a fundamental human right.
However, the education challenges in the country are still considerable and solutions are time-consuming and costly.
Until independence in 1961, education in Sierra Leone was based on the British model with an academic curriculum that was geared towards a few colonial administration roles. Fewer than 15% of children were enrolled in primary school and only about 5% went to secondary school. Most of the population were poorly served by the system.
The newly independent government made education a priority with the goal of fee-free compulsory education for all. But the challenges of a shortage of teachers and inadequate infrastructure, plus rapid population growth, made for slow progress.
During the late 1980s the education system struggled with high dropout rates, limited access to school in rural areas and growing unemployment levels. These factors contributed to the discontent that helped fuel the civil war.
The civil war (1991 to 2002) had a catastrophic impact on education. More than 1270 schools were destroyed or badly damaged and, by 2001, only 13% of schools were deemed usable. Around two million people were displaced during the conflict - including pupils and teachers. Thousands of children were forced into conflict instead of going to school which left many traumatised and ill-equipped to return to the classroom after the war. Government education programmes were halted.
Cultural attitudes to women’s education are slowly changing but have been a factor for many years. For example, until 2000 girls who were pregnant or had given birth were forbidden from going to school. More generally, girls are often required to help at home or to leave school to earn money.
Even more recently. addressing the situation hasn’t been straightforward as the country was hit by the Ebola epidemic from 2014 to 2016 causing a national state of emergency.
Despite huge efforts, broader challenges of poor infrastructure, inflation and unemployment continue to affect education, especially in rural areas.
The women Prosper works with are ill-equipped to meet the economic demands put upon them. Even those with some schooling, lack the business knowledge and commercial thinking to help themselves become financially resilient… and even prosperous.
CEO Fred Fenwick said: “The reality is that many of the women we work with have never had the chance to benefit from education. Barriers like geography, poverty and social expectations have kept formal education out of reach for too many. Prosper was created to bridge that gap – offering practical, accessible training designed for women’s lived realities.”
