On the occasion of the World Environment Day, the Mother Earth Project (Jaipur) is going to organise an international open forum discussion on June 5 evening on the theme “Restoration of Eco-System” in which some eminent guests and speakers are going to take part including this scribe. My topic is “Roles of schools in environment-centric education and green school concept.”
With an aim for Activating Sustainability Worldwide, the Mother Earth Project (MEP), encourages people worldwide to commit to sustainable actions and Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, filled with daily acts of saving and protecting our planet. "Using artwork as the catalyst for bringing people together, MEP encourages schools, communities, climate strikers and BLM protesters to create 'Parachutes for the Planet', circular works of art that are a metaphor for bringing the world back to a safe place," claims its website [1].
Here is the brief that have prepared to be the part of discussion
GREEN SCHOOL CONCEPT [2]
(Note: The concept note is brief created from a document of the NCERT on Green School)
View-point: Environment is all-encompassing, multidisciplinary and dynamic. It has natural, scientific, social, economic, political and technological dimensions and it is important to visualise these holistically, instead of viewing these different aspects in segregation. Thus, for school children, environment is a composite of natural and human made surroundings (socio-cultural), it is important that children are sensitised to understanding the environment in this broad perspective.
Current situation: School-habitat link is missing and the concern has been reflected in National Curriculum Framework (NCF), which states, “Today formal education has largely become alienated from the habitat of the students. But the environmental degradation proceeds at an unprecedented pace. We are beginning to realise the importance of taking good care of our habitat. Humankind must therefore make an attempt to comprehend its roots, to re-establish links with its habitat (eco-system), and to understand and take good care of it. In substance and spirit, then the theme, ‘Habitat and Learning’ is equivalent to EE”.
Vision: School guided by the principles of environmental sustainability
Purpose: To create a conducive environment to fully utilise all resources and opportunities inside and outside the school to sensitise teachers and students for environmental sustainability through active involvement of the community.
Commitment: Full stake in the on-going, continuous and synergistic efforts of all stakeholders towards improving the environment of the school and its surroundings.
A “Green School” is identified with those elements and practices that inculcate environmental sensitivity and promote environmental sustainability through various environment-friendly means that encourage judicious use of resources. It also caters to the physical, mental and emotional needs of a child by ensuring a school environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically enabling.
Experiential learning: Student engagement in direct and first-hand experiences and environmental action.
These help students to
· Consolidate and apply knowledge,
· Gain understanding of environmental processes,
· Identify inter-relationships and issues,
· Acquire a number of life skills
· Foster attitudes, values and sensitivity towards environmental concerns.
Such an education
· Is holistic in nature
· Ensures the overall development of the students as it is integrated and embedded across all aspects of the school,
· Encompasses formal and informal learning experiences inside and outside the school boundary
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD):
The implementation of ESD requires sincere hard work since it is based on a multifaceted and multipronged action with collaborated efforts of all stakeholders to generate a genuine concern that may lead to effective action for conserving and further improving the environment.
ESSENTIAL GUIDELINES
Green School approach should help develop positive attitudes, social values and strong concern for sustainable development and further improvement of the environment. The projects based on appreciation of local wisdom through traditions and customs must help children to discover their linkages with both national and global concerns.
Essential Aspects of Green School Environment
The Green School
· Has clean, healthy, protective and green surroundings
· Promotes both the physical and the psycho-social health of learners and others in school;
· Ensures a healthy (provision of health services such as nutritional supplementation and counselling) and hygienic (safe drinking water, neat and clean classrooms, playground and parks, etc.)
· Establishes safe learning environment, with healthy practices (e.g. A school free of drugs, corporal punishment and harassment);
· Brings children closer to nature as far as possible and involves them in taking care of it.
Towards Action-Driven Green Curriculum
The ultimate goal of Green curriculum is action, i.e.
· Emphasising action to improve the environment, prevent its degradation and sustain its well-being ( School Eco Park; School garden Projects)
· Promoting Green Practices within and Beyond School
· Engaging students directly with their surroundings can be a powerful way of learning about the environment because it helps them realise that their actions can make a difference.
· Encouraging children to undergo different processes of learning, e.g.
- Observing,
- Critically thinking and
- Constructing knowledge or examining and generating knowledge on their own
Addresses Environmental Concerns Holistically
Thus, a Green Curriculum is the concern of all children and all teachers. It is a perspective, concerned with all disciplines and therefore needs to permeate into all subjects at all stages. Therefore, its approach should enrich and energise the entire curriculum through infusion and integration.
The theme-based studies should to connect concepts and topics within and across stages in a particular subject.
It must also holistically address the following sustainability concerns:
· Protection and conservation of natural and material resources of the school
· Study of diverse traditions, culture and heritage,
· Norms for safety and security, both physical and psychological
· Health and sanitation issues,
· Concern for equity and justice
· Interconnection between natural, social, physical and cultural environment
Major concerns in ESD are equity and inclusion
Inclusion and Equity Concerns: Development of values that help respect individual differences in terms of gender, socio-cultural and economic situations and physical and mental abilities.
Heightened concerns: Areas of inequity and discrimination in different aspects and sensitize children to these issues.
Valuing diversity: The multilingual and multicultural composition of a group of children in itself provides great potential for learning and understanding of the richness and value of diversity.
Capacity building of stakeholders: Along with greening of the school campus, carry out the teacher orientation, school management orientation and students’ workshops so that students are involved in this process.
Outdoor learning spaces: Design and create child-friendly outdoor spaces for learning created also introduced bird shelters in the trees and bushes near school boundary walls and make students responsible for maintenance or management these spaces
Links
Comments