Africa is a continent of challenges, great challenges.
We’re talking about a continent that has begun a process of modernization, but there’s
still a lot to do:
Develop a true health network; boost industry, mechanize agriculture and, of course, respond
to the enormous challenge of improving education.
If we look at results from recent decades and identify the countries that have taken
the greatest economic leaps, we can see that the common denominator has been an effort
to implement high-quality education systems.
In countries such as Japan, South Korea or Singapore, the commitment to have first-rate
education systems really facilitated their economic transition.
Within a few years, all of these countries went from poor, rudimentary economies to becoming
high value-added economic powers.
That’s exactly what is happening now in China.
Of course, China’s success is due to many factors, but throughout this entire process
of economic takeoff, education played an important role.
And not only for economic reasons, but also social, cultural and political ones.
And now it's Africa’s turn.
Listen up.
(SCHOOLS THAT AREN’T SCHOOLS)
Obviously, getting Sub-Saharan Africa to the education level of developed countries will
be a mammoth task that will take decades.
And just as a house is constructed from the foundations up, all kinds of public and private
organizations have invested billions of dollars in reducing illiteracy and improving schooling
throughout sub-Saharan Africa for more than three decades.
However... the challenge is sooo enormous... that there’s still a lot to do.
For example, the lack of access to education in Africa is one of its biggest problems.
Despite all the efforts made, more than 20% of children aged between 6 and 11 still don’t
go to school, and if we talk about children aged between 12 and 14, the figure rises above
30%.
The usual reason given for this situation is the need in the poorest regions for children
to work in the fields from a young age and the difficulty in meeting the costs of education.
Because you see, even though the free public education model has been adopted widely throughout
the African continent, parents still have to pay expenses such as uniforms, shoes, books
or transportation.
And, of course, in such a poor region this is often quite complicated.
But if you think that the lack of access or not being able to pay for expenses are the
only problems hindering education in Africa, you’re very, very wrong.
The other great, and perhaps most significant, challenge facing education systems in Africa
has to do with very poor teaching quality and with the wasteful and uncontrolled use
of public funds.
And many of you may be thinking, Simon, surely you didn’t expect Africa to have Ivy-league
class colleges after just a few years...
But wait, because when we talk about “poor quality teachers” we mean the standard is
really low...
In many African countries, such as in Sierra Leone, it’s common to find fake teachers.
These are teachers who receive a salary from the government but who neither teach nor work.
Since 2009 in Sierra Leone alone, more than 6,000 fake teachers have been detected and
eliminated from the state payroll.
Although, to be fair, this doesn’t only happen in Africa.
It’s a frequent problem in other poor countries too.
In Pakistan, for example, there were more than 8,000 schools that received funds from
the state but didn’t really exist.
They were ghost schools.
Where did that money go?
Better not to ask.
But that's not all.
Even when teachers do show up...
Well let's just say that in Africa, not going to school, skipping classes, often has more
to do with the teachers than the students.
Check this out.
Yes, in sub-Saharan Africa it’s common for teachers to not show up regularly at school.
Some studies show that in countries such as Kenya or Nigeria this absenteeism affects
15% of the entire workforce.
But if this already sounds crazy, listen up.
In Kenya this percentage increases to almost 50% if we include teachers who go to school
but who don’t actually go into the classroom to teach.
And then there’s the fact that it isn’t uncommon for many teachers who do teach to,
well… have difficulties reading or to not really have a mastery of basic mathematics,
even if they’re mathematics teachers.
Basically... it’s a full-fledged disaster.
And, no, opening more schools ISN’T enough.
That won’t solve the problem.
More things are needed.
But wait just a second, because not all the news is bad.
In addition to public schools and the schools that NGOs have opened with cooperation aid,
there is another alternative that has recently gained a strong following in the region:
Private low-cost education.
Yes, yes, you heard that right.
Private and low-cost education in the same sentence.
Even though in many parts of the world private education is reserved for people with high
incomes, in Africa this barrier is eroding.
Could private education help overcome the problems of the continent's education systems?
I’m sure you’ve never asked yourself that question.
To delve deeper into this phenomenon and to figure out what’s going on, in this video
we’ll focus on the examples of two very different countries: Kenya and Liberia.
Kenya is one of the stars of Africa’s takeoff.
Since 2013, its economy has been growing at an average of more than 5% per year.
Liberia, on the other hand, is still one of the ten poorest countries in the world and
is bogged down with a lot of social and economic problems.
So..
What is a country as poor as Liberia doing with private education?
How and why would a struggling country promote a private education model?
Listen up.
(LIBERIA, AWARE OF THE DISASTER)
The Liberian government has noticed that it has a huge problem, so huge that it’s practically
impossible for them to manage it themselves.
After 14 years of civil war and constant epidemics, education has remained a second-, third- or
fourth-level priority.
Add to this uncontrolled corruption and the failure of public services is evident.
Of course disastrous management goes hand-in-hand with disastrous results.
However, the Liberian government has decided to break the mould and bet on a fairly novel
way to ensure that the poorest have access to better education.
The people responsible for this strategy change are the largest company dedicated to low-cost
private education in Africa: The Bridge International Academies, a company founded in 2008 in Kenya
by two American friends.
It currently has more than 600 schools that offer education to more than 120,000 students.
But, of course, it isn’t the only company dedicated to this activity, not at all.
There’s also the Rising Academies, another of the main low-cost private school companies
in Africa, which was founded by British and Canadian entrepreneurs.
But… as we don’t have time to talk about all the emerging companies, we’re going
to focus today on Bridge, which is the largest of them all.
And the first question we need to ask ourselves is...
How is it funded?
Well... nowadays it can continue operating mostly thanks to the support of institutions
such as the World Bank and with donations from business heavyweights such as Mark Zuckerberg
or Bill Gates, the founders of Facebook and Microsoft.
Because, in most cases, these kinds of educational companies aren’t profitable.
They only appear to be viable because of the donations they receive.
For example, let’s take the case of Bridge International.
In 2016 they declared an income of 16 million dollars but had operating losses of 12 million.
That means their total costs were a whopping 28 million, meaning their costs were 75% greater
than their income.
But, just a second, don’t think we’re talking about something like an NGO, not at
all.
These companies are for-profit.
What happens is that they conceive a long-term business model.
They hope that the economic development that has begun in many African regions will soon
allow them to reap the benefits.
And of course, in the meantime they receive support in the form of multiple donations,
such as those of Bill Gates, that more than compensate for all business losses.
But they often receive these donations precisely because they have a feasibility plan.
That is, because they expect it to be a profitable, and therefore autonomous and sustainable project
in the medium-term.
Of course, spending is easy but managing to create a self-sustaining project… that's
something else.
And it is precisely for this reason, and despite all these losses, that the company continues
with its expansion plan.
It’s all thanks to the more than 140 million dollars it has earned in investments and donations.
Surprised?
The fact is that in 2016, the government of Liberia, a country where less than 40% of
children receive primary education, decided to work with Bridge International.
Why?
Well... because obvious that public education wasn’t working in this country.
(“Teachers don’t show up, even though they’re paid by the government.
There are no books.
Training is very weak.
School infrastructure is not safe.
We have to do something radical.”
- George Werner, ex-minister of Education of Liberia.)
The point is that the Liberian government signed an agreement for Bridge International
to operate 93 public schools with more than 27,000 students.
Access to these schools is still free, the government pays for the students.
To date, this is the largest agreement signed between an African government and a private
education company.
And this experiment seems to be quite a success.
In level tests, students from schools managed by Bridge International achieve much, much
better results than students from schools operated by the state.
To give you an idea of the divide, in the level tests the Bridge students’ results
can be 100% higher.
That is, Bridge students do twice as well as students from government-controlled schools.
But... just a second, because in spite of these positive results, not every country
is making things easy for this type of education business.
Take for example Kenya, the very country where Bridge International was born.
Listen up.
(KENYA'S MISTRUST)
Let's not fool ourselves.
Private schools can pose a threat to state-controlled education and many governments don’t like
that.
Neither do public school teachers.
That’s exactly what’s happening in Kenya where the National Teachers' Union has been
conducting a very tough campaign against the low-cost private schools’ model for years.
Supposedly they are against the teachers in these types of centers who don’t have a
government license.
Even though the students’ academic results are much better.
(“Bridge is unauthorised and illegal".
- Wilson Sossion, secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers.)
There is some truth however to their arguments.
The company itself recognizes it.
(‘Technically, we’re breaking the law but so are thousands of other schools who
are operating like this”.
- Shannon May, co-founder of Bridge International Academies.)
Among other things, the educational programs aren’t written in the country they’re
destined for, nor do they meet the local governments’ requirements, they’re usually written abroad.
In Bridge’s case, educational performance is even evaluated by Harvard professors.
Which, to tell the truth, and without meaning to offend anyone, is probably not such a bad
thing when you consider Kenya’s politicians.
Of course, not everything is rosy with the private model.
And sometimes unpleasant situations occur.
Companies like Bridge International are still for-profit companies, which requires parents
to keep up with payments.
And that can be a struggle in a place like Africa.
However, what’s the alternative?
Public schools where teachers go to class when they feel like it or where math classes
are taught by people who hardly know how to multiply?
In sub-Saharan Africa, governments have proven very ineffective in providing public services.
That's why many alternatives are emerging.
In some cases, they are companies and in others they are non-profit organizations.
The important thing is that these initiatives are revolutionizing education in Africa.
(Low-cost schools are transforming Africa.
- Forbes)
Could it be that investing in private low-cost schools that aim to be profitable is one of
the best ways to help develop quality education in Africa?
Could it be that investments are better than mere handouts?
Leave your answer in the comments.
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