Bilingual education model preserves Wolof and Senegal’s future

The science behind bilingual learning

For decades, Senegalese students were taught exclusively in French even though most of them spoke a different language at home. Research shows that this makes it harder for them to gain early literacy skills. Before the bilingual approach was introduced by the Ministry of Education in partnership with the nonprofit organization Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED), a Gates Foundation grantee, many young learners struggled to grasp foundational concepts.

In 2025, ARED was awarded the Yidan Prize—one of the world’s most prestigious honors in education—for its work advancing instruction in national languages.

“Over 70% of children couldn’t even read a simple sentence,” says Mamadou Amadou Ly, executive director of ARED.

Senegal’s bilingual education model for primary school students is beginning to change that. By gaining foundational skills in both Wolof and French, students are not only reading earlier and participating more confidently in class, but they are far more likely to complete school—and become higher earners as adults. The bilingual model, known as MOHEBS—Modèle Harmonisé d’Enseignement Bilingue au Sénégal, or Unified Framework for Bilingual Education in Senegal— is also serving as an example for other countries.

Turning a literacy program into a national strategy

For 15 years, ARED helped adults achieve literacy by teaching in Senegal’s several national languages. Ly believed the same approach could work in primary schools. “We asked ourselves, Why not bring our expertise in national languages into formal education?” he recalls.  

Earlier efforts to introduce bilingual learning in the 1970s stalled, largely because the country lacked a unified national strategy. When Ly approached the Ministry of Education, officials were in the middle of rolling out a new competency-based curriculum, and they were reluctant to take on another reform.

ARED then proposed a compromise: a pilot program providing free afternoon sessions. The results were striking. “We proved that children learned better with just those afternoon sessions, and it even improved their behavior and learning during the regular school day,” says Ly. “Parents noticed it, too.”

Soon, parents and school inspectors asked for the program to become part of the official school schedule.

When evidence becomes policy

One assessment showed that for students taught in national languages, there was an overall 29 percentage point increase in the proportion of students meeting the program’s oral reading and reading comprehension benchmark than those of their monolingually educated peers. Those results helped pave the way for MOHEBS.

Today, MOHEBS is available in 13 of Senegal’s 16 education regions and in six national languages, with two more to be added in 2026. Having overcome early hesitation from parents and teachers, the next challenge is expansion. “Our big challenge is developing teaching materials,” says Ndeye Aby Ndao Cissé, the director of elementary education in the Ministry of Education.

For Cissé, the investment goes far beyond the classroom. “This isn’t just an investment in childhood—the child who succeeds today becomes tomorrow’s adult,” she says. Human capital is central to Senegal’s Agenda 2050, the country’s long-term development vision. “With our harmonized bilingual model, we’re shaping responsible Senegalese citizens who will drive the country’s social and economic progress.”