BALI, Indonesia (June 13, 2025) —

After a quarter of a century of delivering progressive education to children from rural villages in Bali, Begawan has made the difficult decision to close the Begawan Guru Learning Centre in Melinggih Kelod.

Begawan’s education initiative began in 2000, with a vision to serve the needs of the community through education, conservation, and healthcare. The founders opened a free kindergarten on the grounds of Begawan Giri Estate, where local children attended lessons in English, crafts, health, gardening, and housekeeping.

A collaboration in the 90s between Begawan’s founders and Prof. Dr. Jurgen Zimmer, an Emeritus Professor of Education at the Freie University in Berlin, developed into an alternative model of progressive education, designed to enable students from diverse backgrounds to break cycles of poverty and realise their potential.

From 2017 to 2025 Begawan’s progressive education initiative operated as Begawan Guru, an after-school Learning Centre providing holistic, interdisciplinary education at no charge to students from Melinggih Kelod. The Foundation also sponsored extracurricular activities, health care, and daily lunch for the children in the programme.

In mid-2025, after much careful deliberation, Begawan decided to permanently close its educational programme. The closure on April 21, 2025 was marked with a final day of activities for all students and parents to celebrate together with Begawan’s facilitators and team.

We recognise this closure is a loss to the community. However, we also look back with pride and joy at the achievements and growth Begawan has fostered in its students and their families over the past 25 years. What began as a modest commitment in 2000 evolved into a fully-fledged centre for learning, of which we are all immensely proud.

We at Begawan are confident that the former students of Begawan Guru will continue to pursue learning by doing, and become valued members of the community in Bali and beyond.