At Oussoukro 2 Primary School, children struggled with the basic blocks of learning: literacy and maths. Many found it difficult to read classroom materials or recognise two-digit numbers or solve simple subtraction problems. Today, those same classrooms tell a different story. Children are reading aloud with growing confidence, solving maths exercises independently, and demonstrating skills that once seemed unreachable.
One of them is Mariam, a Grade 3 learner. “Before, I was afraid,” she says, tracing her finger under a line of text in her notebook. “Now, I don’t wait for the teacher. I read the stories by myself.”
This change is part of Côte d’Ivoire’s national effort to strengthen foundational learning through a government-led remediation programme that is helping children recover essential literacy and numeracy skills and build a stronger foundation for future learning.
About six hours from Abidjan, in the Haut-Sassandra region, red-dirt roads cut through small towns and farming communities, with endless fields of cocoa and coffee. Places where life moves steadily, shaped by hard work, family, and quiet ambition. It is here that you find Oussoukro.
Oussoukro is a small village of about 600 inhabitants, with roots going back to 1964. It began with one man, Oussou, who settled here to be closer to his farm. Over time, others followed, and what started as a practical decision grew into a close-knit community built on shared effort and continuity. Like many communities around Issia, life in Oussoukro is simple but purposeful. Children walk to school each morning, families tend to their farms, and there is a quiet determination to create better opportunities for the next generation.
At the centre of the village stands Oussoukro 2 Primary School, serving children from Grade 1 to Grade 6. It is here that Côte d’Ivoire’s efforts to strengthen foundational learning are taking root, as part of a broader national push to ensure every child acquires essential learning skills.
This transformation is not accidental. It is the result of a massive national mission called PNAPAS (Programme National d’Amélioration des Premiers Apprentissages Scolaires), led by the Ministry of National Education and Literacy. It is designed to strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy by equipping teachers with practical tools to identify learning gaps early and support children to catch up.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to learn and succeed,” says a representative from the Ministry of National Education and Literacy. “Through PNAPAS, we are equipping teachers with the tools and support they need to help learners catch up and thrive. The progress we are seeing shows that targeted remediation can make a real difference.”
In Oussoukro, teachers have been trained to use Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) principles. Instead of teaching strictly by grade level, they assess learners based on what they can already do and group them accordingly. This shift has changed what learning looks like inside the classroom.
Learning becomes visible in the classroom
During literacy lessons, children eagerly volunteer to read aloud. Small groups work through tailored activities based on their learning levels, while teachers move between learners offering support and encouragement.
In the maths lessons, children solve problems on slates, discuss answers with classmates, and celebrate small but meaningful progress.
One of the teachers witnessing this transformation is Assitan Koné, a Grade 3 teacher in Issia. “I have noticed significant improvement among the learners. They can now read fluently and solve basic arithmetic problems with confidence,” she says. “When they first came from Grade 2, many were still struggling. Thanks to PNAPAS, the progress has been remarkable.”
For teachers, the change shows up in more than learning outcomes: it’s visible in the children’s confidence too. Children who were once quiet and hesitant now participate actively, ask questions, and show growing progress in their abilities.
A teacher of Oussoukro 2 Primary School adds: “We have seen a real change in our learners since the programme began. Children who were once struggling to recognise letters and numbers are now reading with confidence and attempting maths on their own. The classroom feels more active, more confident, and full of progress.”
Measuring progress through assessment
Behind these visible classroom changes, is a structured assessment system helping to track learning progress and guide instruction. As the school year draws to a close, schools across Côte d’Ivoire are conducting end line assessments to measure learning gains under the remediation programme.
At the start of the programme, many children struggled with foundational skills. More than seven in ten children could not read a single word in French. But by the end of the programme, the picture has changed significantly. The proportion of learners able to read at least a paragraph more than doubled, while the number of children unable to read a single word fell sharply. In numeracy, similar gains were recorded, with more learners now able to recognise numbers and solve basic arithmetic problems independently.
Overall, literacy improved by 22.6 percentage points and numeracy by 32 percentage points, exceeding programme targets and demonstrating the power of targeted remediation when implemented at scale. In real terms, this means that in a classroom of 40 children where 30 once could not read a single word, dozens are now moving forward with their peers.
What the change means
While final analysis is still underway, classroom observations and assessment results already point to meaningful improvements in both learning outcomes and learner confidence. The impact extends beyond individual learners. Stronger foundational skills mean children are better equipped to engage with the broader curriculum, stay in school longer, and pursue future opportunities.
In Oussoukro, this progress is visible in more than the data. Children read aloud without fear, teachers adapt their instruction with real confidence, and at home, parents are watching learning take root in front of them. What began decades ago as a small settlement of farming families has evolved into a community placing education at the centre of its future.
For the people of Oussoukro, remediation is ultimately a story of possibility: children discovering they can learn, teachers finding new ways to reach every one of them, and a government showing what’s possible when foundational learning becomes a national priority. In classrooms across Côte d’Ivoire, the change is becoming visible not only in what children can do, but in what they now believe they can become.
