Begawan Guru
Preparing Bali’s future leaders through progressive education
Every afternoon in Melinggih Kelod village, a charming scene plays out on the road outside the Begawan Guru Learning Centre.
Parents, grandparents, siblings, and relatives pull up on motorcycles outside the centre, to drop children off at Begawan’s after-school learning centre. The children, ages six to 12, attend a free educational program sponsored and developed by Begawan Foundation. From 1pm to 5pm six days a week, the children are given opportunities to grow their skills and understanding of the world — not through rote memorisation, repetition, or exams, but through meaningful, hands-on activities tailored specifically for Balinese children.
Begun in 2000 as a free kindergarten inside Begawan Giri Estate, Begawan’s education initiative is founded on the belief that all children deserve a quality education, regardless of their socio-economic status. Over more than 20 years, the initiative grew from a small kindergarten into a weekend community club in Sibang, and then into a dedicated learning centre in Melinggih Kelod, with its own progressive curriculum and perspective on community education. The core aim of the initiative is to empower children from Bali’s rural villages to break cycles of poverty through education.
Begawan Guru employs three full-time teachers as well as six part-time teachers. The Learning Centre has no rows of desks or chairs facing whiteboards — instead, students sit in a circle or work together in small groups, guided by facilitators who encourage them to participate actively in the activities. The children are free to express their ideas and opinions, and are supported to address challenges collaboratively in mixed-age groups. Achievement is measured in consistent attendance and perseverance in learning. At the end of each ‘term’ the students work on a final project, which requires them to apply the knowledge they’ve absorbed over the previous months.
As unstructured as the classroom experience may sound, Begawan’s progressive program follows a meticulously crafted curriculum encompassing four categories of studies.
Thematic classes provide transdisciplinary exploration of the world under specific topics, such as soil and farming, dwellings, and cooking science. Practical entrepreneurial activities instill skills and mindsets for the students to create work and business opportunities for themselves and their communities. Proficiency lessons develop intellectual abilities in areas such as Literacy, Numeracy and Basic Computer, to complement the formal education the children receive in school; and Extracurricular classes allow the children to explore personal areas of passion and interest, such as dance, karate, cooking, and Balinese language.
The Begawan motto, “Learning by Doing”, can be seen in its progressive education model, which emphasizes active learning in relevant, real-world scenarios. The children can often be found outside the classroom, building bamboo structures for an architecture theme, helping Begawan’s farmers transplant seedlings, or learning from local and international experts in fields such as culinary arts, nature conservation, and biomimicry.
In addition to its program of learning, Begawan Guru also sponsors student services for the 45 children in the Learning Centre. These include health checks, individual tutoring and counseling, transportation support, communications classes, and nutritious meals for the students on a daily basis.
By offering student-centred learning with a strong entrepreneurial focus, awareness of the environment and sustainability issues, local and global mindsets, as well as holistic character development, Begawan Guru is making a lasting investment in the next generation and the future of Bali. Already the program has had a deep impact in the community of Melinggih Kelod. More than 100 names are on the waiting list, with parents from 16 banjar or villages applying to send their children to Begawan’s Learning Centre.
To find out how you can support Begawan’s community education program through scholarships or donations visit: www.begawan.org/sponsorships
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