Photo: Beirut Baptist School’s K3 students flashed wide smiles and thumbs-up of accomplishment while posing in front of what may be the first major engineering project of their young lives: working together to construct a “Rainbow Bus” out of painted cardboard and tinfoil.
This creative activity comes in the context of a fundraising drive the school is currently launching to buy two new minivans for the preschool department, as the school phases out its existing fleet. About 100 families living in and around Beirut rely on BBS’ pupil transportation services, and the time has come for a much needed upgrade to better serve the students’ needs in this highly congested city.
As an inner-city school with a Christian mission and deep roots in its neighbourhood, BBS is committed to maximizing the accessibility of educational opportunities to families of different backgrounds and regions in Beirut. To encourage the formation of this diverse student body, BBS is committed to maintaining affordable tuition fees, with internal revenue covering basic operational costs such as teachers’ salaries and building maintenance costs. With scarce funds, a significant and ongoing challenge for BBS is the provision and upkeep of safe and reliable transportation to students who live in distant parts of Beirut or its outskirts.
BBS’ kindergarten kids are used to doing their bit for the greater good; the “Rainbow Bus” activity is just one example of the kind of holistic and civic minded education students receive early on, with the students helping to beautify their school through a “Planting Day” earlier in the term, and taking part in a “Recycling Day” scheduled for the end of February.
Research has shown that school buses are one of the safest modes of home-to-school transport, and constitute spaces of positive social interaction between students.
We invite you to consider complimenting our efforts and those of the BBS Pre-school students by contributing towards the purchase of two new minivans. Your gift will get us closer to our goal. Please contact us for more details. Thank you.