Unbelievable “Green School” in Indonesia named “The Greenest School on Earth”

Every year visionaries, thinkers, and activists from a variety of fields are invited to present their ideas to the world through TED Talks. This past July, Green School’s Founder, John Hardy was asked to speak at TED about Green School, receiving a standing ovation.

“Our vision is of a natural, holistic, student-centered learning environment that empowers and inspires our students to be creative, innovative, green leaders,” states the schools homepage. The Green School in Bali is, on almost all accounts, the only of its kind. The school has attracted the students from around the world and hopes to provide a progressive green education to one million students in Indonesia by 2017. According to their school information flyer,

“Green School Bali is an international preschool through high school in Bali, Indonesia whose goal is to be the #1 model of sustainability education in the world. With striking bamboo architecture and a solar-powered, self-sustaining campus that spans 20 acres, the school has attracted nearly 300 students from more than 45 countries seeking a unique, nature-based, student centered education. Green School in Bali is the inaugural winner of the “Greenest School on Earth” award from the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council and has received international acclaim for its innovative approach to education.”

Green School is impressive and unique in the dynamic balance in it’s learning curriculum. While it may seem, on observing an action and creativity driven day at Green School, children are actually adhering to a standard curriculum that would be accepted by major school systems, teaches convention subject matter, and prepares students for higher learning institutions in public school systems. What makes the approach different and exciting at Green School is that information is imparted using hands on instruction where children take frequent field trips, plant, harvest and eat traditional local crops, work with native animal species, honor and learn from the local indigenous people groups, and are immersed in sustainable technologies. According to Green School Bali,

“We are developing and implementing a unique, student-centered Green School curriculum that ensures our students receive all of the core academic skills and content but at the same time offers something more than you’ll find in most conventional schools. All of the traditional subjects are offered here, up and down the grade levels. The difference at Green School is that academics come wrapped in rich layers of experiential, environmental, and entrepreneurial learning and the creative arts. In the process we hope to create more authentic motivations for learning, and at the same time expand our students’ sense of global citizenship and environmental responsibility while exposing them to different possibilities for how we live and grow as a fragile planet.”

This fascinating earth and student-centered school has drawn the attention of important activists, international organization officers, and musicians alike. The famous nature activist, Jane Goodall enjoyed a four day visit to green school and left very impressed saying, “I think all the students here are incredibly lucky because there is this great atmosphere of learning about the things you care about, interacting with the environment, of learning some of the core values for success in life which are respect and kindness and understanding.” Musician, poet, and activist Michael Franti came to Bali for a visit and was equally impressed saying, “For anybody that’s considering sending your kid to school here, it’s different than other schools where your kid’s going to be assigned a number and a desk and you show up and you do exactly what you’re told. Here if you have an idea to do something that’s outside of the box, that idea is going to be fostered and nurtured rather than pushed down.” This is a particularly impressive statement because one of the primary criticisms of public school by many conscious, earth-centered, or unconventional families is that individuality can be severely stifled, neglecting individuality and thwarting the natural development of a child’s unique visions and calling in life.

In September 2014 Green School Bali received an exciting honor when United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon paid a visit and signed a memorandum of understanding between Green School Bali, the National Red Plus agency, and the United Nations Office for Red Plus Coordination in Indonesia, opening the channels for communication, sharing, and discussion about paradigms for sustainable living and teaching technique in education. After Ki-Moon’s visit, in an address to the entire student body and staff, he warmly shared his impressions of the school, “ I have been traveling many countries and I have been meeting many different people. I have been visiting many different places, many schools, but this is (the) most impressive school I have every visited.” After a lively round of applause, the Secretary-General continues, “I know that you are doing everything green, everything environmentally sustainable. You are setting a very good example and you have my full support and my full admiration and I am deeply impressed.”

Green School Bali provides an extremely unique, progressive, and beneficial learning system for its students that is beneficial to the children who attend and also beneficial to the local and world community. The tuition to Green School is quite expensive, ranging from $6,280 to more than $1,400 for just one year, with the price increasing as the grade levels go up. This price is not readily accessible to a high percentage of families, but there are scholarship opportunities. In their FAQ section, Green School Bali provides information for sponsoring a child to attend to school, how to access and implement Green School amazing curriculum by teachers into other school, and opportunities to start additional Green Schools elsewhere. Hopefully this means that, as awareness is gained, more and more opportunities for students to learn in sustainable, creative, liberating, and environmentally-conscious learning environments will increase. Green school aims to create world leaders in sustainability and green-living. The world could certainly use as many of these as possible.

#Environment