To mark International Day of the Girl Child, Bridge Liberia supported students form part of National Girls Summit

As the world commemorates the International Day of the Girl Child, female
students at Bridge Liberia supported Schools on Monday October 10 joined
other adolescent girls in Monrovia to participate in a one day girls summit
and panel discussion.

Organised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the
summit and panel discussion focused on the growth and development of
the girl child in Liberia.

Over 120 adolescent girls gathered at the Monrovia City Hall to discuss
several issues including career choices, adolescent challenges, substance
abuse among others. The students also used the event to network with
expert presenters who deliberated on these topics.

Such networking and extra curricular activity supports student development
outside of the classroom, in addition to the learning that takes place in the
classroom. Core curriculum activities as it is described at Bridge for
students forms part of the learning and development for students in the
Bridge Liberia ecosystem.

This year, the world is celebrating International Day of the Girl Child under
the theme,

”our time is now,-our rights, our future”,

a time when global education stakeholders are also calling for equity in education.

Bridge Liberia Comms Director Melody Ketter (Left) posing with scores of Bridge Liberia supported students at the summit

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said at the recently held
Transforming Education Summit,

“when girls and women have an equal
opportunity to learn – and when education supports gender equality for all –
communities and societies prosper.”

This statement stands at the core of Bridge Liberia principles for equity in
education.

Bridge Liberia, which is the largest partner in the Liberia Education
Advancement Program under the Ministry of Education, is empowering a
new generation of confident and successful girls by significantly improving
learning outcomes for them.

Bridge supported teachers are trained to call on both boys and girls in the
classroom. As fewer girls than boys usually tend to volunteer in class,
teachers are trained to practise what is known as cold calling to ensure
equal participation.

Professional development and classroom management techniques focus
on encouraging girls to be leaders in and out of the classroom.
All of these interventions and principles have yielded positive results for
girls in the Bridge ecosystem.

Fifth grade girls’ average performance on reading fluency increased by
more than 27 words per minute. Once lagging by 10 words per minute, girls
now outperform boys.
According to a recent study conducted by 2019 Nobel Prize winner Michael
Kremer and team under one of NewGlobe’s Programs in Kenya, girls make
the same leap in learning as boys.
This methodology is the same used at Bridge Liberia supported schools. As
NewGlobe is Bridge Liberia’s technical partner.