Our Latest News & Stories

Every February is celebrated as Balinese Language Month in Bali. To honor and support this important cultural celebration, EBPP students held a special cultural event on March 10 at the EBPP Ban office. The celebration was opened by Pengalusan School students with a beautiful Puspanjali dance to welcome the audience. The stage then became livelier with a musical performance using the traditional ‘cungklik’ bamboo instruments, (made by them), in a creative collaboration with m

This week, in the Youth Empowerment gender lesson, our high school students reviewed a short movie entitled “Purusa, Utama?” that vividly illustrated the harmful effects of patriarchy in Balinese households and evoked strong emotions because of its relevance to their own lives. Several students related closely to the characters, especially the abusive father figure who enforced strict discipline by raising his son with corporal punishment, while giving his daughter endless do

What does real learning look like in a Guidance and Counseling class? Sometimes, it begins with a simple yet powerful question: ‘ How do you feel?’ In today’s session, students explored three fundamental emotions — happiness, sadness, and anger. Through small-group discussions, drawings, and personal sharing, they reflected on real situations from their daily lives. The goal was not only to talk about emotions, but to understand them. As the session unfolded, the classroom be

My English lessons this week focused on something simple yet powerful: helping students find their voices. In Grades 7, 8, and 9, I introduced vocabulary through themes drawn from their daily lives — at home, the beach, at the market, at school, and at the temple. Because the language reflected their own environment, students connected with it quickly and responded with genuine interest. In Grade 7, students explored food vocabulary and taste words such as sweet, salty, spicy

Hello, my name is Komang Nyos. I am an EBPP alumnus from 2022 and a scholarship recipient currently in my sixth semester at Dhyana Pura University, Bali, majoring in Public Health. Returning to EBPP as a guest teacher was a deeply meaningful experience. It gave me the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences from university life while encouraging students to stay motivated and confident about continuing their education. During my semester break from 4–6 February, I retu

Food security is a fundamental pillar of community health and well-being, particularly for people living in remote areas with limited access to public services. Inadequate access to nutritious food can lead to malnutrition and undernutrition, especially among children. In Desa Ban, many families live on the steep slopes of Mount Abang and depend on dryland farming for their livelihoods. For generations, farmers have practiced traditional intercropping, primarily cultivating c

For two meaningful weeks, EBPP once again became a space for learning, collaboration, and reflection with the return of our volunteer, Chris Frankland . This visit marked his fifth time at EBPP, continuing a long-term partnership that has steadily grown through shared practice, trust, and reflection. Chris first introduced cooperative learning in 2024, as an invitation to rethink classroom interaction and student engagement. Over time, teachers explored, adapted, and applied

Mathematics is often perceived as a difficult subject by many students. This challenge is not only experienced by EBPP students, but also by learners in schools around the world. Such perceptions can negatively affect students’ motivation, participation, and confidence in the learning process. When students feel that mathematics is intimidating, they tend to become passive and disengaged in the classroom. To address this issue, I have increasingly implemented cooperative lear

Last week, EBPP distributed iron supplement for 63 female students across our Manikaji, Darmaji, and Daya learning centres. There was a total of 315 iron tablets, with each student receiving five tablets to be consumed over five weeks. To commemorate Hari Gizi Nasional  (National Nutrition Day) on 25 January 2026, we took the iron supplement together with the students as a symbolic and practical act of staying healthy by fulfilling daily iron needs. This collective moment als

As a Guidance Counsellor at EBPP School, my role is to support students in understanding themselves and planning for their future. One simple yet meaningful tool I use is the Dream Tree—a creative medium that helps students visualise their dreams and map out the direction they want to take in life. Through this activity, students are encouraged to reflect on their goals, while I gain deeper insight into their potential, interests, and career paths. Every student has a dream,

As the new semester begins, schools play an essential role in kickstarting students’ enthusiasm for getting back to learning, with a key focus at EBPP being to strengthening literacy! Literacy goes beyond reading and writing—it also includes understanding information, thinking critically, and expressing ideas clearly. At the start of this second semester, literacy activities at EBPP schools serve as a strong foundation for creating a positive learning culture. Through regular

Hi! I am Tini, a Grade 9 student from Pengalusan School. Every morning, I begin my day by sweeping the house and washing the dishes. Starting the day with a clean and tidy home makes me feel calm and ready. In the afternoon, I weave bamboo—something I truly enjoy. It’s not only a skill I love, but also a way I help support my family. This is how I spend my school holidays. Learning responsibility, patience, and life beyond the classroom.

As 2025 draws to a close, the East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP) Education Team held a Coordination Meeting as a key part of our evaluation and sustainable planning process to reflect on the progress of the educational programs over the past year, while also formulating concrete steps to address the challenges ahead. During the meeting, each department presented performance reports, program achievements, and the challenges encountered throughout 2025. The discussions were open

The beginning of the rainy season is always a time we look forward to. Together with my friends, I feel excited again to work in our learning garden and to help my parents on our family farmland. We immediately apply all the skills we have learned about dryland farming, making every activity meaningful and enjoyable. The first thing we did was build a cubang —a rainwater storage reservoir that will be essential during the dry season. We also planted various vegetable seeds, b

As part of my strategy to improve EBPP senior high school students’ English communications’ proficiency I developed the “English Hour” program. This program is a dedicated speaking session conducted two to three times per semester, during which students practice speaking English for a full hour. During the “English Hour” sessions, students are not allowed to use only their native language, but they are permitted to mix English with Indonesian if they have difficulty forming s

Saturday, 1 st  November 2025 was an exciting day for EBPP students as they kicked off the 7th Gender Equality Sports Competition. Designed to continue our mission to promote gender equality, especially encouraging girls’ inclusion in typically male dominated  sports, the event fielded 7 futsal and 6 volleyball teams from EBPP junior and senior high schools, who gathered at our Daya Learning Centre sports court to compete and showcase their athletic talents. Led by EBPP teach

To improve agricultural productivity in dryland areas, EBPP has partnered with Ms Dewi S, an experienced expert in organic vegetable and grain cultivation. In addition to being active in several organizations focused on developing unique and nutrient-rich plants, Dewi also teaches at an international school in Bali, guiding students in sustainable planting and seed-processing techniques. Her first visit to Ban Village provided a valuable learning experience for EBPP students

One of the creative ways to make English learning more enjoyable is by using Task-Based and Game-Based Learning methods. To achieve this, I introduced an activity called Sentence in an Envelope with junior high students from grades 8 and 9. Each envelope contained several cut-up mixed words that students had to arrange into a correct sentence. The lesson focused on the simple present tense, especially when to add -s or -es to verbs, such as in “She likes apples” instead of “S

One of the important roles of a teacher is not only to deliver lessons but also to encourage students to think critically. To achieve this, I apply Problem Based Learning (PBL) connected to real-life situations. For example, in the topic of hazardous substances, I divided the students into several groups and gave them a problem to discuss, such as: “Why is plastic waste dangerous for the environment?”  Each group then discussed the issue, looked for solutions, and presented w

Last week, EBPP distributed 320 iron tablets  to our 64 junior and senior high female students  as part of our ongoing effort to prevent...