Millions of parents rely on our schools, which offer a quality education to children in impoverished communities, says Sean Geraghty of Bridge International Academies

In response to your story about Bridge International Academies (UK urged to stop funding ‘ineffective and unsustainable’ Bridge schools, 3 August), it is worth noting that those claiming to speak for civil society are largely unions and organisations that campaign against education reform and are avid protectors of the status quo. The authors neither acknowledge this nor refer to external evidence to substantiate their claims, referring only to reports previously funded by these same organisations.

Those who seek to close down affordable schools often do not acknowledge – as the Department for International Development does in this article – that millions of parents rely on these schools.

Bridge schools are either free or affordable, its teachers are properly paid, receive good quality training, and are given lesson guides that encourage teacher and pupil interaction. We have never intimidated any individual. A full response with evidence is available on our website.

Bridge schools have been demonstrated as effective, with our pupils significantly outperforming their peers in national exams. In 2016, children who had studied with Bridge in Kenya for four years averaged a 74% pass rate versus a national average of 49% on the national primary school exit exam. In Liberia, four times as many children achieved fluency benchmarks at Bridge public schools compared with other public schools.

Bridge’s schools are sustainable and scalable. They are able to attract investment to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems – investment that is a new source of funding for schools, that NGOs and public systems cannot access.

The vast majority of people who signed the letter criticising us have never been to a Bridge school. I would encourage them to do so and see at first hand the way our pupils and parents in impoverished communities benefit from a quality education.

Sean Geraghty

Chief academic officer, Bridge International Academies

• This letter was amended on 11 August 2017. An earlier version referred to a 48% national average pass rate. 49% is the correct figure.



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