All Schools Have Responsibility for Student Safety

All schools wherever they are located in the world have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their students. Recently, it emerged that an unknown male had been found repeatedly on Bridge premises in Uganda whilst falsely claiming to be a senior member of Bridge staff.

Naturally, this caused significant alarm and academy staff responded appropriately by alerting the authorities in order to protect their pupils and teachers. Every parent, quite rightly, expects that their child(ren) attend a safe learning environment. Teachers also expect that the school where they work will ensure that they are able to teach in a safely, without interruption.

As with all schools, Bridge has a civic duty to report any suspicious activity or any suspected criminal conduct to the authorities that might place those for whom they are responsible in danger.

Education International, the global union for teachers’ trade unions, seized upon the actions of Bridge, in reporting their researcher Curis Reip to Ugandan authorities, claiming that we were not transparent and are threatened by ‘independent’ research into our operations.

A Bridge Spokesperson said: “We remain committed to open dialogue and rigorous research, especially research that adheres to recognised standards of quality which includes but is not limited to being honest about your identity. It does not however include enabling unidentified adults to wander freely around our schools at whim.”

You can read our entire response to Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary, Education International below.

We hope that it others accept the safety of our pupils and staff is paramount and that going forward Bridge and Education International can foster more constructive engagements intended to improve learning outcomes for Ugandan children and across the world.

[ENDS]

Notes to Editors

Response to Fred Van Leeuwen, General Secretary, Education International

For information about independent research into Bridge, please see here.

About Bridge

Bridge believes every child has the right to high quality education and works in partnership with governments, communities, parents and teachers to deliver education to over 100,000 children in underserved communities across Africa and Asia.

Bridge leverages in-depth teacher training and support, advanced lesson plans and wireless technology to provide pupils with a meaningful and life-changing education.

Globally, there is an education crisis. Around 263 million children and young people are not in school and the number of primary school aged children not in school is increasing. Bridge is committed to helping tackle this through a data driven, evidence based approach that delivers strong schools and a great education for all.