NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s system of education is one of the most accessible in Africa, however, this system’s umbrella alone is not large enough. In 2003, the Kenyan government implemented a free primary education system, increasing overall enrollment rates, but still leaving many of Kenya’s poorest without a basic education because of school fees not covered by the government.
In many developing countries, including Kenya, public schools are few and far between, especially in poor areas. If a school is available, it can face issues such as overcrowding, an inadequate budget, lack of learning materials and low-quality teachers. Parents of poor children may sometimes even prevent their children from attending school out of a need for help in the family farm or around the house. Moreover, traditional gender roles may prevent parents from allowing their daughters to enroll in school.
Bridge International Academies is working to combat these issues. Using a low-cost, high quality, standardized chain method of schooling, Bridge is working to break the cycle of poverty for the world’s poorest families. Bridge currently has hundreds of “Academies-in-a-box” in Kenya, each equipped with well-trained teachers, school materials, a world-class curriculum and the materials for Bridge’s signature bright green schoolhouse.
The brainchild of Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jay Kimmelman, anthropologist Shannon May and mechanical engineer Phil Frei, Bridge International Academies was developed in 2009 out of a conversation about bridging the global education gap, the massive market need for low-cost private education and ways to empower parents, students and teachers. The trio modeled their idea after massive service-oriented chain corporations like Starbucks or McDonald’s.
Bridge is able to keep total school fees at $5 per month for each student because of its widespread presence and large number of students. This monthly payment grants each student a standardized curriculum, assessment tracking, books, instructional songs and a guaranteed quality education. Quality is, furthermore, ensured through scripted lessons that are developed by Bridge’s leading education experts.
Though likely an alien concept to Westerners, scripted lessons minimize stress for teachers and allow them to deliver high-quality instruction without putting in the demanding planning hours of a typical Kenyan teacher. Region-sensitive lessons are delivered through data-enabled tablets, which sync with Bridge’s headquarters to monitor lesson pacing, record attendance and track assessments in real-time.
While the standardized curriculum provides teachers with scripts that guide their teaching down to each word and minute, the lessons are far from rote learning. Bridge budgets time for students to work individually and in groups, for teachers to interact with students as they work, for games and for a class cheer. In Kenya, great teachers are the exception and not the rule, so providing scripts allows for a much larger pool of people who can become competent teachers.
Bridge hires teachers who are high school graduates that live in the neighborhoods surrounding each Bridge school. These teachers enter the results of the required frequent assessments in their e-reader, and Bridge’s master teachers have the opportunity to change lesson plans in response to students’ weaknesses. If Bridge notices that a teacher does not open a digital lesson within 15 minutes of its scheduled start, someone from headquarters will call the school about the issue. Since all data is centralized and standardized, Bridge is able to bring high-quality instruction to the poorest communities in the world.
-Tara Young
Sources: Bridge International Academies, BMZ: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Wired, The New York Times
Photo: Extraordinary Journeys