Today, we celebrate education options internationally, and organizations like Bridge International Academies working to ensure every child has a chance to experience a quality education, regardless of their family’s income.
There are nearly 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day around the world, and Bridge International Academies recognizes that just like in the U.S., a huge gap exists between the education offered and the needs of the population in these communities.
Bridge International Academies currently serves approximately 100,000 families in Africa, and is expanding soon to Asia. They offer access to low-cost, high-quality private schools, charging fees that are 70% lower than any other private schools in local communities. They work to provide both intellectual and social education for their students, along with preparing them for the 21st century.
And that’s exactly what they’ve done for Josephine Meweni Nyakundi, a Bridge International Academies student in Ongata Rongai in Kajiado Country, just outside of Nairobi, Africa. She dreams of being a neurosurgeon one day so that she can help the people in her community, as its sorely lacking in its supply of qualified doctors. Thanks to Bridge International Academies’ scholarship program, which works to support its top-performing pupils by helping them to complete secondary school in the U.S., she’s closer to realizing her dream.
“With determination, courage, support and assertiveness …you can achieve your dreams, no matter how big they are and despite your current circumstance,” says Josephine of her beloved school.
The scholarships are a testament to the support and dedication of Bridge Academies’ teachers, academy managers and an incredible achievement for the pupils. These children only want to better their lives and the lives of the people around them, and having the choice to attend a school that offers high-quality education is the best way to accomplish that. This is why school choice and institutions like Bridge International Academies are important. They give students like Josephine opportunities to succeed and chase their dreams, regardless of where they come from.
This is one of a series of posts highlighting numerous diverse opportunities from towns to nations for National School Choice Week 2016.