Badi School & University

San Miguelito, Panama

From a one room school to a University: Individuals do make a difference!

Increasing Capacity

Since its existence, Badi School has grown from one class of 12 kindergarten students to a school of more than 385 students and 37 classrooms. This increased capacity is a result of perseverance and a dedication to offer the finest educational program possible to the families of the fast-growing San Miguelito area of Panama. Here, poverty is the norm, 70% of children are born to single mothers and four out of ten children do not have access to education. Almost half of the students at Badi attend on partial scholarships and the number of applications they receive is often four times the number of students they can accept.

Proof of the high quality of education is evident year after year. In 2009 twelve students from Badi School who applied to the Technological University of Panama took the same entrance exam of that of the Harvard College Board and passed with some of the highest grades in the nation out of 3000 students. One of the students received the highest grade in the nation. Badi School has received for the third time the Award of Excellence from the Iberoamerican Council of Education. Additionally, in 2009 Badi School was invited by the United Nations Organization to be part of their program against poverty.

University Plans

In 2007, the auditorium and stage were completed with all necessary furniture and fixtures to hold meetings, assemblies, plays and exhibits. Adjacent to this building, there are two new classrooms in use on the land planned for the university. The rest of the land has been cleared and is settling for a year before further construction begins. At that time, more classrooms and a gymnasium will be built with room to house a radio station. Badi plans to eventually create a university-level course in communications, the first of its kind in Panama.

Needs

The Gymnasium, mentioned above in the University plans, which is to be built on the new property consists of 12 phases, for those phases Badi School has the following estimated costs:

1. Land preparation $ 2,000.00
2. Foundation and iron columns construction $ 28,000.00
3. Floor and Roof $ 17,000.00
4. Ceiling with heat protection $ 6,000.00
5. Side stairs $ 4,500.00
6. Walls $ 8,000.00
7. 4 Radio station rooms $ 10,000.00
8. 2 Rest rooms at the second level $ 6,000.00
9. Electricity and lamps $ 8,000.00
10. Other details $ 5,000.00
11. Scholarships (55% of scholarships needed for 15 students) $8,486.00

Through the support of our generous contributors, Mona Foundation has been able to provide the following support to Badi School during 2009: $2,900 for a Study of Environment Impact on the new land; $25,000 for four classrooms; $11,000 for a 40 m. containment wall; $6,700 for updating and installing an energy saving system in the computer lab; and $1,200 for replacing ten flat monitors in the computer lab.