Uganda is accusing schools backed by Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates of “teaching pornography”
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
For much of the past year, Bridge International Academies has faced tough criticism of its operations and business model in Africa. With its scripted teaching plans, Bridge offers standardized education in developing countries through its chain of low-cost private schools. But critics contend that the startup, which is backed by investors including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and the World Bank, hired cheap teachers and ran its schools amid poor sanitary conditions. Both of these claims were cited in a ruling from the Ugandan high court this month ordering the closure of more than 60 schools run by Bridge in Uganda.
And then there are the allegations that the company engaged in “teaching pornography” and “conveying the gospel of homosexuality” as part of a sex-education program at its schools.
Matia Kasaija, Uganda’s minister of finance, planning and economic development, played a key role in spreading the rumors.
“We could not allow teaching sexual matters in public. Why teaching pornography in Bridge schools? This moral decay couldn’t be tolerated,” Kasaija is quoted as saying during the convocation ceremony of Uganda Martyrs’ University, a private university in central Uganda.
Source: Quartz (link opens in a new window)
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