• Senegal approves $1.75B education budget for 2026, up 1.6 percent
  
• Over half allocated to administration; rest funds core education programs
  
• Priorities include teacher training, rural access, and curriculum reform

Senegal has adopted a 990.75 billion XOF (about 1.75 billion dollars) budget for the Ministry of National Education in 2026. The approval came on Thursday, November 13, from the parliamentary Finance and Budget Control Committees and the Education, Youth, Sports, and Recreation Committee.

The funds cover all levels of education, from preschool to secondary schooling and adult and youth learning programs.

The 2026 education budget represents a 1.61 percent increase compared with 2025 and accounts for nearly 14 percent of overall government spending. Parliamentary documents show that the allocation will be divided mainly between administrative operations and oversight, which will take up 51 percent of the total budget, and the country’s various educational programs.

According to the National Assembly, the 2026 budget is based on five priority areas. These include strengthening the teaching profession, improving school conditions, expanding equity and access in rural and underserved areas, advancing structural curriculum and teaching reforms, and improving governance through digitization and stronger internal controls.

The budget approval follows several months of reforms aimed at modernizing Senegal’s education system. In October 2025, the government announced new measures to improve access to schooling and raise teaching quality. These initiatives include plans to build 25 high schools, 46 middle schools, and 46 elementary schools across the country, as well as the introduction of eight national languages into school curricula.

Félicien Houindo Lokossou