Baha'i Education in State Schools (BESS) programme in Australia

The largest, most systematic approach to providing Baha'i education for children was undoubtedly the Baha'i Education in State Schools (BESS) programme in Australia which, while initiated before 2001, expanded and improved significantly during the Five Year Plan. A number of school principals, as a means of attracting enrolments to their school, promoted the fact that they offered Baha'i classes. So great was the demand for this programme from school administrators and non-Baha'i parents that the community could not raise up a sufficient number of teachers. At the conclusion of the Plan, the BESS programme was serving more than 6,000 children throughout Australia, and more than 90 per cent of them were from non-Baha'i families.

(THE FIVE YEAR PLAN, 2001-2006: Summary of Achievements and Learning - Prepared under the supervision of the International Teaching Centre)