The role of education in the development of society cannot be overstated. Education contribute towards the growtht of people, increasing national income and other cultural richness. An educated society facilitates better development programmes than an illiterate one.

Cognizant of the importance of education, Kenya introduced universal free primary education in 2003. This increased enrolment rates in the country, piling pressure on public schools and paving the way for the growth of private schools.

As private schools grew, those from poor backgrounds felt excluded by the high school fees charges. Consequently, low-fee private schools started mushrooming to serve those from the low end of the society.

Within the past decade, there has been a surge in low-fee private schools across the country. The number of these schools has been on the rise in underserved communities because of unavailability of public schools and costly charges by traditional private schools which are beyond the affordability of many parents.

Low-fee private schools play a critical role in providing affordable high-quality education in underserved areas, especially in rural areas and densely populated urban poor.

Bridge Kenya runs community schools across the country, and has been serving the underserved communities for well over a decade and half. Using innovation and technology, the organization has provided affordable-high quality education to hundreds of thousands of Kenyan children.

Bridge community schools offer a lot of lessons on how the potential of low-fee community schools can be harnessed to impact communities positively.

In places where poverty persists, low-fee community schools are a holistic, transformative agent of community development. The Community schools provide children in low-income communities with a high-quality education. The schools serve as hubs for communities and combine a rigorous, relevant educational programmes with extended learning opportunities, family and community engagement, and an infusion of social services.

“At Bridge, we enable and empower local communities, and local leaders, to be change agents within their community, by leading and teaching at a transformational school.” Says Griffin Asigo, the Bridge Kenya Managing Director.

For a long time, cost has been a barrier to education access. In many Sub-Sahara African countries, most government-run or public schools have hidden costs. There are fees for test booklets, uniforms, building materials, and more. Many government education sectors are overloaded. High rates of teacher absenteeism, overcrowded classrooms, and lack of needed resources affect the quality of education children receive. Millions of students are in school but not learning, or they’re missing from school altogether.

In running high impact community schools, Bridge supports teachers to succeed in the classroom. The organization effectively trains and supports teachers, providing them with technology to use in teaching. It believes that teachers need to be supported, trained and empowered; and that they need resources to enable them to teach effectively and material that is designed to help children learn.

“We believe that strong teachers change lives. So, we empower our teachers and support them across all our schools in the country. A great teacher does more than impart knowledge, they are also an inspiration, a mentor and a friend.” Says Griffin Asigo.

A newly released study by Professor Michael Kremer of the University of Chicago has affirmed the work of Bridge in running high impact community schools.

The study finds that after two years, primary school pupils in Bridge are nearly a whole additional year of learning ahead of children taught using standard methods. For pre-primary pupils, children gain nearly an additional year and half of learning. They learn in two years what children in other schools learn in three and a half years.

The research finds that Grade 1 pupils in Bridge are more than three times as likely to be able to read as their peers in other schools. In addition, pupils starting from the lowest learning levels gain the most, with girls making the same leap in learning as boys.

The study also finds that Bridge schools have higher reported instructional time, lower reported teacher absence, and higher reported teacher and parent engagement in child’s education.

Speaking about the research findings, a Bridge spokesperson said:

“Improving education outcomes for our children is one of the most important challenges of our generation. We are delighted that this study, by a Nobel prize winning economist, has found unequivocal evidence of learning gains in our schools. It is a testament to the holistic and integrated teaching and learning approaches we have pioneered in Kenya since 2009.”

To ensure that their community schools are successful, Bridge has implemented collaborative leadership and practices approach. Their community schools employ structures that share responsibilities and decision making with local leadership and stakeholders, involving them in day-to-day governance of schools.

As the country yearns for a knowledge-based economy, everyone has set their focus on the contribution of the education sector in the development of human capital. Successful school models like those of Bridge have a lot to learn from, as affirmed by the new study.

In the words of Professor Michael Kremer, the 2019 Nobel Prize winner:

“The effects in this study are among the largest in the international education literature, particularly for a programme that was already operating at scale. This study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardized education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore incorporation of standardization, including standardized lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems.”