SEATTLE — Imagine seeing a small structure made of ridged tin walls and plywood frames, no electricity and a grassy area out front serving as both the lunch and recreation area. Now imagine hundreds of these in Kenya.
Despite the image that comes to mind when we think about traditional institutions, there’s much to offer inside these “pop-up schools” or “academies in a box” that are taking over Kenya by storm. Despite their humble appearances, they provide dependable schooling for local communities and create a business model that sets the global aspirations needed to transform global education.
Bridge International Academies is the driving force behind the project that aims to break the cycle of global poverty by striving to provide every child the opportunity to have high-quality primary education, regardless of economic background.
From re-engineering the model of basic education to upholding data and technology, Bridge is able to standardize and scale the cycle of high-quality education delivery in order to create a system that’s made to last in any community. For five dollars a month, students can gain the education they need to reach their full potential and strive in their communities. However, before its launch, Bridge invested in $15 million in system and training development, and in-class materials that make these pop-up schools such a success.
Bridge also offers a system that’s made to be easily replicated through an operations template for every school, which includes the curriculum, cheap cost of attendance, easy enrollment and a method that tracks student-teacher evaluations. Teachers and school managers are supplied with tablets to manage lessons and track performance in which the data filter through an Android-based software. Everything is monitored by the people working at Bridge’s headquarters from how well the students are learning to even ensuring that the teachers show up to class on time. All of these measures work toward maintaining accountability.
Bridge’s CEO Jay Kimmelman and former Silicon Valley entrepreneur recently told Wired in an interview, “Accountability is key. It’s really weird, and really amazing, and it works.”
In 2009, Bridge International Academies opened its first school-in-a-box in the Mukuru slum of Nairobi, Kenya. In 2013, the company launched 51 schools at once and 78 more by the end of the year. And now, there are hundreds spread throughout the country opening at a rate of one every 2.5 days. By 2025, Bridge plans to educate 10 million children across a dozen countries.
With a mission of “knowledge for all,” Bridge continues to set the global aspirations needed to transform education opportunities for poor youth around the world.
– Chelsee Yee
Sources: Bridge International Academies, Fast Coexist, Wired
Photo: NPR