The double-shift schooling system (DSS)—where two groups of students attend classes in shifts—has helped expand access to education in The Gambia. But new evidence by local PEP researchers shows that DSS comes at the cost of reduced learning outcomes, especially for girls and students in the capital region.
In public primary schools, students in DSS perform worse in foundational literacy tasks compared to their peers in single-shift schools (SSS), with girls and Grade 1 learners in Region 1 (Banjul and Kanifing) most affected. At the secondary level, students in private DSS schools are up to 7% less likely to pass English and Mathematics in the WASSCE, with English performance hit hardest.
While the learning gains from converting DSS to SSS are marginal in public primary schools, doing so in private high schools could significantly raise national pass rates, from 24% to 31%.
Find out more about the research methods, findings, and policy recommendations in the following PEP publications:
Amadou Jallow (Gambia)
