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The Ein Bustan kindergarten is the first Jewish/Arab Waldorf kindergarten in Israel, and is situated in the small Arab village of Hilf, near Kiryat Tivon, in the lower Galilee. The kindergarten, which is based Waldorf Education, accepts both Arab and Jewish cultures equally. Currently Maayan Babustan operates a nursery school for the youngest children (ages 1-2 years of age) two kindergartens, for children, ages 2-6, and a special pilot enrichment class for older children (ages 6-7) , which will form the basis of our first class in our planned bi-lingual (Arabic and Hebrew) school.The children of “Ein Bustan” (meaning “spring in the garden”) come from Kiryat Tivon, (a Jewish town) and the surrounding Bedouin (Arab) villages Hilf, Zbidat, Zarzir and Bosmat Tab’un.
The founders of Ein Bustan share a vision of a society in which Jews and Arabs live together peacefully in equality and understanding. In order to create this reality, we believe that there must be education that fosters true friendship, trust and shared culture and language. An educational system that separates children by their religion and nationality fails to take into consideration the widening gap between the two communities, which will take years to bridge and generations to mend.
Ein Bustan believes in building a bridge between the Arab and Jewish population through a joint, multi-cultural educational setting based on the Waldorf approach. With an emphasis on encouraging the imagination and creativity of the child, humanistic values, social responsibility, nature, arts and music, we feel that the Waldorf approach is uniquely suited to Ein Bustan’s bi- lingual and multicultural populations. Ein Bustan’s kindergarten activities are based on traditional arts and crafts, and the holidays and customs celebrated in both cultures.
In addition to running a joint kindergarten and preschool, Maayan Babustan initiates and encourages additional activities that promote dialogue and understanding such as study groups, lectures and cultural events. This project, while small in scope, is having an influence that goes far beyond the kindergarten in Hilf- an influence that expands from day to day in ever-widening ripples in the surrounding Arab and Jewish communities, inspiring hope for peaceful coexistence of Arabs and Jews.
Ein Bustan has been running it’s educational program since September 2005, and has received the official approval of the Israel Ministry of Education as an authorized kindergarten. Maayan Babustan, which operates the educational frameworks of Ein Bustan, is a registered Israeli non-profit organization.
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