Senegal - DELUSIL Initiative : Addressing School Dropout Through an Innovative Hybrid Learning Approach

Overview & Synopsis

Senegal faces a persistent challenge in basic education, with nearly half of school-aged children either never enrolling in school or dropping out, particularly at the primary level. An estimated 2.25 million children aged 6–16 remain outside the traditional education system, with dropout rates reaching 10–15 percent in primary education and the majority occurring between grades CE2 and CM2. Addressing early dropout is critical to preventing long-term exclusion from learning and skills development. The DELUSIL Initiative proposes an innovative hybrid learning model to re-engage out-of-school children through a progressive combination of in-person and distance learning. Targeting 15,000 learners across three pilot regions (Dakar, Diourbel, and Sédhiou), the program plans to deploy 600 digital classes supported by trained facilitators over two years. The approach gradually shifts learners from predominantly face-to-face instruction toward increased autonomy through digital and remote learning, using structured grouping strategies aligned with learning levels. DELUSIL is supported by an enabling environment that includes technology-enhanced classrooms, offline access to digital content via local servers, and a national standard for technology-enabled teaching and learning. The initiative emphasizes foundational skills alongside targeted digital and vocational competencies. A phased pilot and evaluation process will assess enrollment, learning delivery, implementation quality, and participant satisfaction, informing potential scale-up and long-term sustainability of hybrid education solutions in Senegal.