Inclusive economic growth and distribution of wealth hinge on access to quality, affordable education, which is in turn one of the greatest socio-economic problems globally.
To reduce the growing socio-economic gap created by unequal access to quality education, Bridge International Academies, a chain of nursery and primary schools, recently organised its open house event in Lagos to draw attention to how it is changing the education landscape, disruptively.
There are 800 million pre-primary and primary aged pupils living in poverty around the world, who consistently perform in the third percentile compared with the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) standards.
In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Education estimates that 50 percent of in-school children are not learning because they cannot read or write; and about 63 percent of children who live in rural areas cannot read at all. In addition, around 84 percent of children in the lowest economic quartile cannot read at all.
“Our greatest achievements border on up-skilling teachers. Given that our schools are usually located in disadvantaged communities, the teachers often come from these communities as well and need help with content knowledge, delivery and class management” Adesuwa Ifedi, director, corporate and government affairs at Bridge International Academies, Nigeria.
The Academies currently has 23 schools in Lagos in seven local government areas, serving 6,000 pupils and about 200 teachers. Its pedagogy is a blend of digital content and learning materials to ensure seamless delivery and learning.
Pupil fees in Nigeria are less than N200 a day (for a 60-day term). This covers extra lessons from 2pm to 5pm, class work, books, homework used in class and exam fees.
“We teach the Nigerian national curriculum. Our results in Kenya show that Bridge pupils learn in one year what peers learn in two years in neighbouring schools, based on USAID designed exams” the international chain of nursery and primary schools wrote in its brochure.
Bridge partners with governments and civil society organisations to customise programmes for use in the public sector.
As part of Bridge’s desire to support the complete development of the communities it serves, Bridge works with corporate partners to extend other much needed services to these communities such as blood sugar test, blood pressure test and visual acuity test among others for the pupils.
