NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 12 – Bridge Academies, a cluster low cost group of schools operating in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and India, has called for the eradication of teaching practices that are not gender-responsive and that result in gender gaps in learning and skills development.
Bridge, in a statement issued on Monday to commemorate the Day of the Girl Child, called for special attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.
The International Day of the Girl Child; is celebrated every year on October 11 to empower girls and amplify their voices.
The 2021 celebrations under the theme “Digital generation. Our generation” sought to champion for equal access to the internet and digital devices for girls.’
Organizers also mobilized targeted investments to facilitate opportunities for girls to safely and meaningfully access, use, lead and design technology.
Bridge said it was at the forefront in breaking barriers limiting girls from achieving their full potential.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, 132 million girls worldwide are out of school. The reasons are many. Barriers to girls’ education – like poverty, child marriage and gender-based violence largely contribute to this.
Lillian Wamuyu the Director of Gender and Child Empowerment at Bridge Academies – Kenya termed education as a means to achieving gender equality and the best tool to build girls’ and young women’s confidence and equip them with the skills they need to lead.
With the COVID-19 pandemic gender divide around digital connectivity, has increased with more girls are facing economic and social barriers to internet and device access.
“There is an urgent need to put more girls back into the classroom and make them feel supported in the subjects and careers they choose to pursue, including the STEM courses where girls are often under-represented,” Wamuyu said.
Bridge Academies celebrated some of its alumni students who have stood against odds to be among the best in various fronts.
They included Kimberly Betty, the best performing Bridge girl in the 2020 KCPE exams with a score of 411 marks.
Kimberly was selected to join Butere Girls High School, a girls’ national school in western Kenya.
She aims at being a heart surgeon after her secondary school education.
“My mother died because of a heart complication and I remember asking my dad whether there are doctors who specialize in heart-related diseases. I have decided that I want to be a heart specialist so that I can help people with heart-related problems,” Kimberly said.
Other alumni include Mercy Ogola (who scored 404 marks in 2020 KCPE exams) and joined Alliance Girls, Grace Kerubo—studying at Amherst College in the US, Cynthia Meikan (University of Nairobi), Josephine Nyakundi (Presbyterian University in the US).
Another Alumni is Natasha Wanjiru studying at Sewanee college in Tennessee, US and runs an organization called Change-4-Change.
Change-4-Change Initiative supports more than 45 girls to go to primary school. Natasha hopes that the beneficiaries of Change-4-Change will take the opportunity it offers them and use it as a platform for success.
