Educational Concept
Situation
Children are our future. But children are affected most by poverty. In southern Thailand, child poverty often implies poor or insufficient school education, child labor, lack of hygiene and health hazards. There are children who suffer from domestic violence, orphans, and those whose parents love them, but cannot provide for them.
Objective
Children, whether from poor or rich families, have a basic right to education. But what does “education” mean? The goal is to provide children with an education for sustainable development. This means that they learn from life for life. In order to learn from life they need project-based lessons that unite theory and practice, curiosity and knowledge, a sense of community and individual personality. “Learning for life” primarily means to be creative, social and environmentally responsible, and to implement these ideals in a sustainable entrepreneurial fashion. This will hopefully encourage the children to become small or large entrepreneurs themselves one day. At the Beluga School for Life children are empowered to break the cycle of poverty. Here, poor children do not receive a “poor” education, but innovative learning opportunities.
Implementation
The state-approved Beluga School for Life in southern Thailand offers a home to children affected by poverty, violence and neglect. This means that children live together in small families that provide them with emotional security and care for their health. Younger children spend their days in the Small Kids’ House and the kindergarten. The project’s elementary and secondary schools are UNESCO Associated Schools. There the young learners can continue until they complete the Thai general qualification for university entrance. Complementary to the lessons and outside the traditional classrooms the children continue to learn in numerous daily projects. Lessons and projects can make use of six learning centers. The learning centers allow the children to better understand their social, ecological and economic environment and to actively participate in shaping it. Together with educators they can explore, make new discoveries and be little entrepreneurs.
