Bolstering Education and Opportunities for Kenyan Schoolchildren
December 17, 2013
(OPIC)
OPIC and Bridge International Building
Affordable Schools in Kenya
Washington, DC – The Overseas Private
Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Bridge
International Academies today announced their
commitment to build and operate 237 affordable
schools throughout Kenya. The schools,
estimated to educate 300,000 children by 2022,
will be supported by a ten-year, $10 million
loan from OPIC.
The schools will significantly expand low-cost
education in Kenya as well as provide high
quality education to rural and poor urban
children while using innovative technology to
manage operations and classroom lessons. While
helping to develop the country’s education
sector and providing educational opportunities
to underserved populations, the project will
also create hundreds of jobs and provide
professional development training for its
employees.
Bridge International Academies is the world’s
largest network of nursery and primary schools,
offering high-quality and affordable education
to families living on less that $2 a day per
person. Its innovative for-profit model has
been designed and successfully tested to
provide a sustainable, scalable approach to
education. On average, children in Africa
perform at the 3rd percentile academically
compared to children from developed countries.
Bridge International Academies works to close
this gap through a network of
outstanding-quality schools that cost less than
$6 a month per student.
“OPIC is proud to support Bridge International
Academies and its mission to provide
high-quality and affordable education to
students in Kenya” said OPIC President and CEO
Elizabeth L. Littlefield. “This project has the
potential to substantially and positively
impact the development paths of hundreds of
thousands of young people in these communities,
changing the future of their communities as
well,” Littlefield added.
“We are tremendously excited about this
partnership,” said Bridge International
Academies Co-founder and CEO Jay Kimmelman.
“OPIC has spent the past 40 years solving
critical challenges in developing countries.
We are proud to have their financing, as well
as their legacy, support us as we work to give
every child the opportunity to a quality
education. Together, we will democratize
access to exceptional education in Kenya.”
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