Guinea-Bissau pilots a new model for early grade teaching Momo BertrandClaudia Marie Muriel LopezMedjy Pierre-Louis June 30, 2026 This page in: English

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/education/guinea-bissau-pilots-a-new-model-for-early-grade-teaching In March 2026, during a World Bank mission to a school in Morés, 100 kilometers outside of Bissau, a teacher pointed to an object in a classroom, said a word out loud in Guinea-Bissau Kriol, and then in Portuguese. Thirty children seated in a circle around the teacher repeated these words, their voices echoing against the walls and high ceiling of the classroom. While this may come across as a simple or obvious task, for many 5- and 6-year-olds in Guinea-Bissau, this kind of simple task has long been out of reach. Too many classrooms lack lesson plans, learning materials, and the active teaching methods that research shows make the difference.