Dutch journalist Maria Hengeveld reviewed the claims and business plans of Bridge International Academies and found much not to like. She is clearly irked that the Dutch Ministry of Affairs has invested in this plan.
Shannon May, a founder, says that BIA is all about “social justice.”
Hengeveld adds:
“And for profit. According to her husband, the “global education crisis” is worth about US$51 billion a year. In 2013, Kimmelman explained in a presentation how, for less than US$5 in tuition fees per pupil per month, Bridge could grow “into a billion-dollar company” and “radically change the world.” Earlier he and May promised that they could do this for US$4 per month per pupil.
“Big dreams and even bigger promises. However, my research and research done by others shows:
*that their quality claims have not been supported by any independent research;
*that the education provided turns out to be more expensive than promised;
*that underpaid teachers have to recruit additional pupils;
*that they have dismissed criticism from non-governmental organizations and trade unions;
*that critics are silenced;
*that a PR offensive has been launched in order to continue selling the education services provided.
“Furthermore, €1.4 million of Dutch taxpayers’ money has been poured into the company. Dutch support was provided because Lilianne Ploumen of the country’s Labor Party, currently caretaker Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, believes that Bridge uses an “innovative and cost-effective education model, which is able to keep tuition costs per child down.”
“How do you improve education, make it cheaper and also make it profitable? May and Kimmelman have come up with an “innovative pedagogical approach.” The possibility of setting up a few thousand standardized schools within a few years is to be the first innovation. The profit made from each school may be low, but once half a million pupils are recruited — the number of enrollments that Bridge needs to break even — business really takes off. The plan is to reach two million pupils by 2018 and 10 million by 2025.
“This rapid growth would be made possible by using Bridge’s second innovative method, namely its very own approach to the role of teachers and their salary scale. May believes that “qualities such as kindness” are more important than diplomas and this allows for significant savings. In Kenya, where the starting salary for qualified teachers is around US$116 dollars a month, Bridge teachers usually earn less than US$100 a month. However, as Kimmelman explains in a presentation, teachers can earn bonuses by recruiting new students themselves. Marketing is a core task for both teachers and school principals.
“A third innovative aspect, explains May, is the smart use of technology. It works like this: a team of “master teachers” designs digital “master lessons” that are so detailed that all a teacher needs to do is read them from a special Bridge tablet (know as the Nook).”
She continues with a close review of BIA’s claims. It has been showered with awards, but it has run into considerable controversy. Some at the UN have even warned that it is a prelude to privatization of what should be universal public education. Maybe more than a prelude.
There is nothing innovative about enhanced marketing. It sounds like Amway for education. It is privatization, not a prelude. At least the Dutch can see it for what it is.
My Prediction:
With minor modifications, the Bridge model will migrate back to the United States.
It will be marketed as “internationally field tested with low income students.”
The model is “teacher-proof.” The fully scripted curriculum comes with non-stop testing for mastery and a data management system that tracks for continuous improvement by students and the person hired to manage the delivery of lessons.
In addition to Bridge-branded uniforms, parents/caregivers can purchase a few manipulatives for a small fee. Communities who want place-based learning centers may wish to purchase recycled shipping containers for classrooms.
In a quote reminiscent of Nixon’s volunteering the statement “I am not a crook,” a Bridge official, without being asked, unilaterally claimed,
“We are NOT bloodless capitalists.”
Uhhh … nobody accused actually you of that … but hey, now that you’ve brought it up …
It’s in the story BELOW:
Remember how it was exposed that KIPP Houston officials had illegally gouged low-income KIPP parents out of $2.3 million in “fees” — as it’s illegal for any charter operator to charge parents any fees, as any and all donations must be optional, with no negative consequence for not donating?
From the get-go, KIPP officials and been telling the parents the fees were mandatory if your child was to attend school, and failure to do so meant the the parent had to keep the child at home. This farce persisted until one of the parents checked into the law and discovered otherwise. Once the word got out, parents were justifiably irate.
At which point, KIPP — which has over a billion dollars in reserve assets — confessed, “OK, you caught us. We lied. We never should have said that any of the fees were mandatory.”
The low-income parents then replied, “Great. Can we have our money back then?”
“Nope. It’s ours now. Tough luck.”
Good luck to those low-income parents, in an effort to recover these fees, trying to sue a billion-dollar corporation like KIPP. A lawyer would have to take that one on, on contingency.
That was covered here:
It’s the same thing with Bridge International, only in this case, Bridge is legally allowed to charge such fees, and then refuse to service the children of parents who fall behind in their payments of these fees. And again, these are the poorest of the poor that Bridge officials are putting the screws to.
In Africa, Bridge Charter School’s Director of Operations Michael Conway, in collecting parents’ tuition debts, behaves like a Sicilian loan shark: (again, even though Bridge’s schools operate and take in children from the most impoverished slums of Africa.)
(from the New York Times piece, … first link in this post)
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N.Y. TIMES:
“Bridge executives say their schools depend on paying customers.
” ’We get criticized for being bloodless capitalists,’ Michael Conway, Bridge’s East Africa director of operations, told me when I met him in Nairobi last September, ‘‘but we know families make choices about who gets paid first. We don’t want to be the last vendor paid. If we become that, then our financial model would be difficult to sustain.’’ ”
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Here’s what critics point to:
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N.Y. TIMES:
“High quality at low cost is fantasy attached to new technology, along with the messianic belief behind the notorious Bridge Schools.
“And then there is this: (from a parent who cannot make tuition payments)
” ‘They tell you, ‘Sit at home with your child until you get the money,’ ’’ says one parent, a vegetable seller married to an unemployed welder who has two children enrolled at a Bridge school in Nairobi’s Mathare slum.
“Another mother with a 9-year-old child says she found it difficult to make Bridge payments:
” ‘‘At times I’ve gone without eating so I can pay school fees.’ “
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In an interview, Kimmelman said that the BIA business model’s 20% return would attract investors. A parent where BIA is sold, reportedly made this plea, “Don’t make money on our poor backs.”
Is there not something disgusting about Silicon Valley moguls making money by charging tuition fees to poor families in Africa? $1 is a sacrifice for these families. Have they no shame?
None.
There are many words absent in the lexicon of the tech tyrants and Wall Street- democracy and morality, among them.
Here’s my prediction.
Like Charter schools in the US these schools will end up being financed largely with money from the governments in the countries where they operate — at the expense of the public schools in those countries.
It is inevitable that they will turn to government funding because as even Bridge admits, they have been losing money based on their model of charging individual students.
The governments will see Bridge as an easy way to “fix” their education systems.
Everyone will be happy. 🙂
This whole thing is actually a “too big to fail” model in disguise because eventually the Bridge school will reach a size where the government will have no choice but to bail them out — and continue to bail them out (is, finance them in perpetuity)– because it will be untenable for them to just close down.
I would bet that this is precisely what Bridge investors are counting on.
“Too Big to Fail”
When Bridge shows signs of cracking
The government will bail
Cuz sans the public backing
It certainly will fail
This is already happening in Liberia, where the government is paying for Bridge to run schools there. Those schools are free to parents, because the government is paying for them, but the curriculum and everything else is the same. I’m assuming parents still have to pay for uniforms and supplies, which eats up a ton of money for parents. I’m also assuming that Bridge itself makes money from those uniforms, and probably the supplies, too.
I’ve been trying to wave some honking huge issues in Mr. Kristof’s face — very very limited success. He seems very bought into the “WE MUST ACT NOW AND ASK QUESTIONS LATER” so popular in S.V.
TERRIBLE! I hope the Dutch realize this is another SCAM. I like the Dutch and hate seeing this happen to their schools, teachers, students, parents/guardians. .
When I lived in Uithoorn, Holland, I visited schools. That was a LONG TIME ago. I was impressed with the schools and the teachers.
School heads were selected from the faculty and when I asked the Dutch educators, “What does one have to do to become school head?” The response was the same words, “Well, you have to be a great teacher, of course.” When I asked about taking administrative courses, the school heads and the Dutch teachers said, “You learn that on the job.” I hope this program does not TAKE the DUTCH BACKWARDS like in this country.
Getting more pay by recruiting students: a pyramid scheme?