Stop funding Bridge schools: Teachers petition WB

As the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meeting commenced in Washington DC over the weekend, the placards of uninvited guests took charge of the environs outside the towering WB headquarters.

"Bridge exploits African kids," read one placard held by a protestor. "Teachers not tablets; Students before profits," the other placards noted.

The message of protesters, who were largely members of the American Federation of Teachers and representatives of Teachers' Unions from Uganda and South Africa, was coined around the need for World Bank to freeze funding for Bridge International Academies.

The International Finance Corporation, the financial arm of the World Bank, is one of the key sponsors of Bridge International Academies.

However, the mushrooming presence of Bridge academies in Africa has of late courted controversy with Governments challenging the efficacy of these schools—in terms of delivering qualitative and curriculum-aligned education.

In Uganda the battle has become thorny following last year's directive by the Ministry of Education and Sport that all 63 Bridge International campuses in the country be closed for failure to meet basic minimum standards—qualified teachers, poor hygiene, makeshift structures and failure to teach pupils according to the curriculum approved by the National Curriculum Development Centre.

"All bridge schools in the country remain closed until their proprietor conforms to the right standards," Joseph Ntege Lubwama, the commissioner pre-primary and primary education inspection, told New Vision over the weekend.

Court battles

The Ministry of education officials cite section 36 (4) of THE Education (Pre-primary, Primary and Post primary) Act, 2008, which make it compulsory for any school proprietor to have basic and minimum standards in place before opening a school.

Yet in Uganda, the closure of Bridge International schools, has been a subject of a protracted battle—from courts to discussion boardrooms.

When Bridge authorities filed a judicial review court case challenging the closure of their schools, the High Court decided the matter in the favour of the Ministry of education. In their main application for judicial review, Bridge International academies told court that government's move to close its schools was not only irrational but was done without according them fair hearing.

But Justice Patricia Basaza ruled that the Ministry of education has the legal mandate to promote quality control of the education and the power to close institutions that do not comply with its set basic requirements and minimum standards as set by the law.
 
Bridge defies

Solomon Sserwanja, the spokesperson of Bridge International Academies in Uganda dismissed the allegations by protesters, saying contrary to the false allegations fronted by the American lobby groups, Bridge is delivering learning gains for their pupils.
 
"Parents in Uganda are the best people to choose the education for their children, not American Unions. We believe every child has the right to education and would ask why protestors in the USA are demanding that parents in Uganda have their freedom to choose a school for their children taken away?" Sserwanja told New Vision over the weekend.

"Supporting and developing great teachers is the best way of ensuring that children can learn. We believe it would be a better if Uganda National Association of Teachers' Union  (UNATU) supported teachers in Uganda rather than fly around the world to support American trade unions at a great expense," he added.

Sserwanja said Bridge is one of the largest education for-profit companies in the world, with plans to sell basic education services directly to 10,000,000 fee-paying students throughout Africa and Asia by 2025.
 
"We cannot tell the 263 million children who are out of school to wait until global, free, quality education has become a reality as that is still many years in the future and children need good schools today," he said. 
 
In Uganda, its enrolment is currently at about 1,200 pupils and over 800 workers. They have however been operating on a provisional license since it begun. It has a fees structure of sh40, 000 for pre-primary pupils while sh80, 000 are for primary four to six pupils.
          
A study conducted last year by Education International, revealed that Bridge Academy-in-a-box teaching model neglects legal and educational standards established by the Government of Uganda.