SEATTLE — Bridge is an organization that has been partnering with governments, communities, and teachers since 2008 to make a difference and spread awareness for global education. This year Bridge has launched a campaign to improve education in Africa and India by giving teachers, students and parents an outlet to have their needs globally heard.
Ever since the organization’s establishment, Bridge has been creating schools and school systems that are affordable and accessible to students in communities that are impoverished. Their model is to support teachers and provide curriculums made for each county. This program has a strong focus on literacy, numeracy and critical thinking.
The teachers hired are always local people so that they can serve as role models to their students and not just their educator. Every teacher goes through training gets equipped with a tablet that connects local teachers to a master teacher. These master teachers reside at the Bridge headquarters and scripts lessons taught in academies.
Bridge also works in collaboration with local community governments to ensure that the curriculum meets local as well as national standards. Finally, Bridge collects and analyzes data on things such as attendance and how much improvement students are showing. Part of the data analyzed is used to create the best classroom environments and use the best teaching methods for students. Every Bridge school built has lots of light, big enough desks, and materials needed for children to learn.
Bridge can keep the schools affordable by splitting the cost with hundreds of academies. This way the cost to go to school is about five dollars a month. This fee includes the cost of attendance as well as the cost of materials. Most families can afford this cost, for example in Kenya approximately 90 percent of families can afford the cost, thus Bridgeis spreading awareness for global education.
Each year Bridge has been expanding to build more schools and have more students enroll. This year a new program by Bridge called Partnership School for Liberia (PSL) has made significant progress by improving students reading and math skills. This program is part of schools built by Bridge while also being a part of a partnership with Liberian Ministry of Education and Pencils of Promise.
Besides the PSL program Bridge has had successful results with their academic techniques. In 2016 59 percent of students passed the exam, which is more than the average national rate of 49 percent. By collaborative efforts with the community, government and other organizations Bridge has been successful at creating school systems that have a low cost and positive impact.
By allowing teachers and parents to share their stories, Bridge has been able to spread awareness for global education at a global level. School buildings are continuing to get built at a rate of one every three days and progress for students education seem only to be going up.
– Deanna Wetmore
Photo: Flickr