This article highlights all you need to know about Bridge International Academies. Carefully read through.
About Bridge Academies
Since 2009, Bridge International Academies has provided a life-changing education for children in underserved communities, where there is a shortage of learning. They work in partnership with local communities, teachers, and parents to support and deliver high-quality education for primary and pre-primary children. As one of the fastest-growing chains of ‘low-fee schools in the world, Bridge International Academies is also known as BIA is a bridge to an ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor in third world countries. Having over 500,000 children enrolled in hundreds of schools across Africa and India, Bridge International Academy has emerged as a key solution to the illiteracy challenge in developing countries through a model we shall later look at. Bridge academies have made their intention clear of becoming the global leader in providing education to the less privileged families and communities across the world through direct and indirect support to governments under their parent company.
What Are Bridge International Academies?
Bridge International Academies is a community-based network of schools in Africa and India with a mission to educate underprivileged families through a low-cost model. BIA is able to do this through the help and funding of several donors who provide the financial capacity required by the community schools to operate. The operations of Bridge International Academies are in four countries that is India (Andhra Pradesh), Uganda, Nigeria (Lagos and Osun), and Kenya. These four Bridge International Academies programs are part of the portfolio of the parent company, NewGlobe. Bridge Academies is an education partner in these communities and is helping to reduce the huge education imbalance between what is available and what is needed right now through their community school programs.
Why Attend Bridge International Academies?
Bridge International Academies gives the young generation of unfortunate circumstances access to the types of teachers they would find difficulty in affording. As a pupil of Bridge Academies, you attend a high-performance class that opens for you opportunities to provide for yourself and loved ones a quality life. Additionally, Bridge International Academies ensure you incur the least amount possible to guarantee a comfortable and fairly comparable experience as other middle-class students. It helps parents give their children the best education that will not only help them achieve their dreams but also have the ambition to better the world and compete with the rest. Also, Bridge International Academies seeks to give its pupils an education based on the national curriculum to bridge the gap in the education system and nation in general between the rich and the poor. These students are prepared to sit for national exams with the rest of the country in the annual sitting before advancing to the next level of education for which they qualify just like any other students. It focuses on ensuring full coverage of the syllabuses and providing applied skills to the young set of students for their benefit in the outside world.
How Much Money Has Bridge International Academies Raised?
In a total of seven rounds, Bridge International Academies has raised $11.8 million and to date. Bridge academies have never made a profit. NewGlobe, the parent company is based upon a long-term investment model. The commitment of the 14 investors is to tackle the global education crisis in a sustainable and scalable way. Bridge International has committed itself to make a profit if they’re successful in delivering a high-quality, affordable education to millions of children around the world.
How Do Bridge International Academies Get Their Funding?
Bridge International Academies through their model has been able to gain the financial support of several donors, some of the notable names. Of these names, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg through their charity organizations may top the list as the most notable. That said, there are several other high-profile actors that have made tremendous contributions to Bridge academies. Here is a list of these actors who have over the years funded and supported the mission of BIA;
Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationCommonwealth Development CorporationDepartment for International DevelopmentInternational Finance CorporationKholsa VenturesNew Enterprise AssociatesOmidyar NetworkThe World BankPearsonThe UK Department for International Development (DFID)Overseas Private Investment CorporationChan Zuckerberg InitiativePershing Square Foundation
Who Can Attend Bridge International School?
Bridge International Academies provides the learning opportunity to children in families living on USD1.25 per day. Most of these families find it difficult to send 3 children to school as they end up spending over 10% of the families’ income. Bridges International believes every child, rich or poor, should have the best education and an equal chance as the rest at a quality life after completing the level of education. Every child in these communities is given the opportunity to access the best education irrespective of the conditions they come from. With millions of children not in school, and many of those who are, receiving an inadequate education, the Bridge academies seek to provide a much better quality of education to the children in these communities in many developing countries. The Education Commission estimates there are 263 million children and young people not in school and a further 330 million in school but not learning.
How Much Does It Cost To Attend Bridge International School?
The global average fee for attending Bridge International Academies is approximately $8 per month. Despite the very low fees, there are some students who still struggle to afford this. The very low fees in Bridge academy community schools mean that the vast majority of the people near the schools can afford to send their children to Bridge community schools located in some of the poorest communities in the world’s struggling nations. Bridge academies work closely with partnering organizations to provide scholarship opportunities to their students.
What Are The Requirements To Attend Bridge International Schools?
The requirements to be enrolled in a Bridge academy are minimal. Other than a low fee, most parents are only required to provide basic scholastic materials to their children such as books and writing tools as well as uniforms. This is designed to cater to the income distribution in these communities that would otherwise find great difficulty in providing education of such quality to their children.
Bridge International Academies Programs
In all Bridge community schools, only the national curriculum of the host country is taught. For example, Bridge schools in the communities of Uganda adopted the Uganda curriculum and adjust it to match the changes and updates.
For three consecutive years now (2017-19), pupils of Bridge International academies have outperformed the national average in the national Primary Leaving Exam (PLE).
Through adopting Kenya’s curriculum, Bridge academies bring new and engaging lessons aligned to the Kenyan 8-4-4 national syllabus to the classrooms on a daily basis. These lessons, designed by a team of Master Teachers and delivered wirelessly to classroom teachers, utilize strategies and activities that are proven to increase pupil understanding. BIA materials, including textbooks, workbooks, homework books, and practical learning aides, encourage pupils to internalize and apply concepts to real-life situations.
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Bridge International Academies Facilities
While all schools are in underserved communities or slums, Bridge International academies have quickly grown to run schools in over 30 of Kenya’s 42 counties alone. Bridge academies’ low-cost model has equally drawn criticism towards it. Bridge International academies criticism mainly describes the low-quality infrastructure and classroom setting in most if not all of its schools. While the increase in the number of schools has enabled it to reach more communities and put up more Bridge schools, the expansion comes at the cost of the infrastructure’s quality and lack of proper facilities to aid the pupil’s education. In 2016, Bridge opened six schools in Andhra Pradesh, India in a partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to use disused school buildings to create high-performing schools. However, despite all of this, Bridge International academies have striven to invest in critical educational infrastructure and in turn provide quality schooling at a cost affordable to parents.
Student Life At Bridge International Academies
Bridge schools cater to the student’s needs such as meals and hygiene facilities. The general student at Bridge schools is just like any other in the host country. Students also partake in co-curricular activities just as much as other students such as sports and games. Students are also entitled to breaks between lessons as well. On the other hand, teachers are expected to provide mentorship and act as role models to all students to help them maintain their aspirations and dedication. And in great consideration of their background, girl child education is emphasized and highly promoted in Bridge schools.
Bridge International Academies Website
Please visit the BIA website for more information about Bridge Academies: Bridge International Academies has been awarded the African Business Employer of Choice Award 2019 and 2018 and Education Investor Awards 2017 among many others over the past years. See other awards.
Conclusion
Bridge Academies is a unique solution to one of the world’s major challenges that draw little attention to the world yet hold dire consequences if left unchallenged. The gap between the rich and poor, the literate and illiterate, and gender inequality only continue to increase rapidly when not checked in time. Bridge academies have managed to make this their mission and succeed at it as well. While a lot is left to be done, the progress to date is highly applauded. Do you have any queries or experiences with Bridge International Academies you would like to share with us? Please feel free to leave a comment for us.
