Donate NowPulitzer Center grantee Peg Tyre reported from informal settlements around Nairobi and visited schools around Monrovia, Liberia, to learn about Bridge International Academies, a technology based education company that wants to reap massive profits while educating 10 million of the world’s poorest children. Since it launched nine years ago, BIA has opened hundreds of schools in Kenya, Uganda, and more recently, Nigeria and India—it has enrolled 100,000 children in low-fee private schools. In her “Meet the Journalist” video, Tyre discusses the conflicting narratives around the company: Its Silicon Valley investors call it “revolutionary.” But others are more skeptical. The company is losing money. Enrollment, even in places where parents desperately need better education options, is dropping. Unions and some employees, regulators, community organizers, parents and government officials say their model is deeply flawed. Here, Tyre tells how those conflicting narratives drew her to the story.
