Transition-to-English Plus (T2E+)

Context

Ghana has expanded access to primary education, but many early-grade learners still struggle to read with comprehension in both English and their native language. The Government’s multilingual education policy has faced uneven implementation, including gaps in materials, teacher support, and alignment between learners’ home language and the language used in school.

Solution

Transition-to-English Plus (T2E+) strengthened early-grade literacy through a structured bilingual model: children first developed foundational language and reading skills in the Ghanaian Language of Instruction, then added English instruction. Implemented from 2021 to 2023, the program combined scripted, curriculum-aligned lessons; pupil and caregiver materials; radio reading lessons; teacher training; instructional coaching and mentoring; and routine learner assessment to guide remediation.

Impact

A randomized evaluation found that T2E+ improved oral reading skills in both English and Ghanaian languages among Basic 2 and Basic 3 learners, with additional English oral-language gains in Basic 3. In Basic 3, learners in participating schools read four more words per minute in the local language and six more in English than learners in control schools. The program also reduced the proportion of readers with zero scores and benefited girls and boys equally. It reached 5,425 public primary schools across all 16 regions, serving more than 800,000 learners and 22,000 teachers. The estimated delivery cost was approximately USD 5.31 per child.

T2E+ shows that multilingual policy can improve foundational literacy when it is supported as an instructional system—not treated as a language switch alone. The strongest implementation lesson is the package: learner-friendly materials, practical teacher development, frequent coaching, and data-informed monitoring worked together. Scale-up should therefore proceed in phases, test performance in more disadvantaged schools, ensure adequate book supply, and retain instructional support rather than distributing curriculum materials alone. The evaluation’s causal findings apply to its sampled public schools; results should not automatically be generalized to private schools or to Ghana’s most disadvantaged schools without further testing.