Badi School, Panama
About Badi School
Mona Partner since 2000
Badi School started in 1993 as a kindergarten in the carport of a trailer home and has since grown into one of the finest K-12 schools in Panama, serving over 400 students. Badi integrates high quality academics, arts, and technology programs with an inclusive moral leadership program and service. Most Badi School graduates receive full scholarships to the best universities in Panama and elsewhere.
Impressed over the years by the exceptional quality of Badi school's graduates and their contributions to the betterment of their communities, the Ministry of Education in Panama adopted
their moral education curriculum, the key lever of Badi's outstanding results, as their standard course on religion, implementing it in
3,400 schools reaching about
950,000 K-12 students.
The Challenge
Panama has the second most unequal income distribution in Latin America with its dollar-based economy relying primarily on operationg of the Panama Canal, offshore banking, and insurance.
Panama's primary education system ranks 129th out of 139 nations according to the World Economic Forum's “Global Competitiveness Report” for 2010-2011.
The Solution: Badi's Programs
K-12 Education
Badi School provides kindergarten through high school education to over 400 students.
Educational activities, including arts, music and sports, foster the development of the whole child — academically, artistically, technically, and morally — and empowers each student to work towards the betterment of their community.
Arts and Technology Programs
Badi's award-winning Arts Program begins in 7th grade and gradually teaches more complex techniques, even surpassing the arts program at the University of Panama.
The school is also a
pioneer in technology education. The computer lab is Linux based and runs completely on recently installed solar panels.
The award-winning Arts Program at Badi School
How we help
Badi School is a great example of what the Mona Foundation seeks to support. From humble beginnings, it gradually grew from an after-school tutoring program to a Kindergarten with 7 students to a First Grade with 15 students. A few years later we stepped in to support Badi's development to a full K-12 school.
With the help of our generous donors we initially provided a limited number of scholarships and gradually increased our investment over several years to build additional classrooms, a library, a common room, technology and science labs, and to support the music, arts, and character development programs.
2023 Achievements
- 3,400 schools continue to offer Badi School’s moral education curriculum as the evolution of their standard curriculum on "religious studies", impacting 950,000 students
- 400 students received quality education at Badi School
- 30 teachers trained
- 15 students awarded full scholarships
- Revamped their robotics curriculum centered around Python programming, integrating advanced topics and Arduino applications, coupled with practical activities, reflective discussions, and ethical considerations
Badi School has worked tirelessly over the past 26 years to develop educational programs that address "all aspects of being human" so that its students are empowered to improve their own lives as well as contribute to the betterment of their families and community.
From the outset, Badi considered moral education to be as essential to the well-being of its students as academics and the arts. Over the years, they have developed and refined a Virtues curriculum for all grades to help students see themselves as equal members of society deserving of respect and empowered to serve and contribute to their community. In time, Badi became recognized as one of the best schools in Central and South America, both for the high academic achievement of its graduates and for having zero incidence of teen pregnancy, a major issue in Panama.
The school's impact was so significant that the Ministry of Education took note and printed Badi’s entire "virtues program" in the nation's Daily Newspaper so others could learn from it.
In the past 10 years, Badi School has continued refining its Virtues program, teaching students lessons of justice, equality and integrity and service as a compliment to its rigorous academic and creative humanities program. The results have been impressive.
Recently in its continued collaboration and following providing many educational seminars to Panama’s Ministry of Education Curriculum Directors, the Ministry issued an “edict” to replace the standard course on “Religion," to the more inclusive Badi School’s Virtues/Moral Education program in more than 3,100 public schools and 300 private schools, impacting 950,000 students!
Badi School will provide the Curricular Structure and the guidelines to be used by different schools by age and grade according to their social reality, economic situation, regional culture, and knowledge.
Badi School considers this to be their finest contribution to their country.
2024 Needs, $30,074
- Scholarships, $9,434
- Support the Arts Program for about 200 students, $3,600
- Support the music and band program for 30 students, $2,940
- Publication and printing of 750 textbooks, $4,100
- Bob Wilson Memorial Art Scholarship, $10,000
Updates
Badi School continues to achieve recognition among the community for the quality of education and value in society.
In 2022, 5 students obtained the first place in a Regional LATAM Mathematics Contest, hosted by Knowledge Group Co. and the Ministry of Education, “Matific Olympics Latin America". Two of the students receive scholarships from Mona Foundation.
Sara, an 11th grader received first place in the 2022 National Public Speaking Contest.
Another student, Engie, received a scholarship from the Institute for Training and Achievement of Human Resources (IFARUH) for having one of the highest academic scores. In addition, the Ministry of Education awarded him the Guillermo Andreve Medal for having obtained the First Place of Honor.
Empowering Young People
September, 2022 - After studying materials related to the challenges facing humanity in the coming years and the importance of educating youth, a team of three teachers from the Badí School created a space for the students, alumni and other young adults to participate in a meeting at the school. They met weekly, studying and discussing topics such as "the period of youth", "Serving Humanity", "early adolescence", "mutual support and help" and "youth and community building." More than 50 young people attended these sessions.
Global Prize Winner
The 2021 Youth with Refugees Art Contest United Nations (UNHCR) celebrated the power of sport to bring people together and create a sense of hope. Participants aged 10 – 30 could submit drawings on the general theme or create their dream ball. UNHCR received 1,600 submissions from 100 countries. In the dream ball category, UNHCR awarded 5 global winners. In the general category, UNHCR awarded 10 global winners. Alejandra, an 11th grader attending Badi School, was one of the 10 global winners.
“Some of my hobbies are painting, drawing, playing the guitar and video games. This drawing is inspired by the union that sport brings despite the distance. I try to convey how sport promotes inclusion and that despite the distance we can all be united. My drawing shows in one part a footballer showing support to a young refugee, who represents all refugees passionate about sports.” - Alejandra
Responding to Unexpected Needs
2020 - COVID-19 brought with it unparalleled challenges to schools striving to provide access to safe, high quality education. Badi School has faced several technological and economic challenges and worked to solve them step by step.
While there was great uncertainty at the national level about operating the schools, Badí School built an online platform over the first weekend of the closure with help from three Information Technology experts which enabled them to quickly transition to the online classes.
In 2015, a group of Badi students from the 9th, 10th and 11th grades received second place in a national short film festival for their film on how someone who bullies can transform into an agent of positive change. The film was shown nationally and impacted many students around the country and inspired other schools to promote good values.
Stories of Transformation
The collective experience of our partner organizations over the past 18 months offers much insight into how Mona’s long-term partnership model, with its focus on education and gender equality as the twin engines of sustained change, have led to an exceptional set of achievements in seemingly unsurmountable circumstances.
Monica and Madelaine's Story
Jessica's Story: Youth Artist of the Year
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