Sustainable Development
Education is an emerging discipline. In fact, it is one of those innovative
fields of education linking a child’s overall development to the future
challenges of society from global as well as local perspectives.
Why
Sustainable Development Education for Children?
The fundamental reason is
to make children aware of the importance of sustainable development right from
the very beginning of their schooling. However, the citizens, teachers and
mentors in the country need to understand that economic development, social
development, and concern for the environment all go hand in hand.
Often, kids, in different
parts of the world, grow up in environment that is hazardous. The major reason
for imparting such education is to empower children with the knowledge of
issues threatening planetary sustainability. This way, the children are
encouraged to cultivate several ideas and think for the future betterment.
Sustainable Development
education is indeed a productive framework for meaningful learning. It is
completely opposite to rote learning and mere acquisition of facts where there
is less or no understanding of concepts and situations. By making kids
understand the real problems, we can help develop a much better and clearer
understanding of the concepts not only through school curriculum but also from
real-life situations.
How
Schools Can Contribute Towards Sustainable Development Education?
Schools carry the onus of
nurturing the youngest of the minds. Facilitating Sustainable Development
education at such basic level will help the schools nurture responsible
citizens of the world since the very beginning.
It is in schools that the
children can be sensitised about the need of making eco-friendly buildings,
solar power panels, water conservation measures, recycling systems, and tree
plantations. More importantly, such initiatives will be truly fruitful when
they are planned as school and community projects where the children actually
understand the results of their actions.
How to challenge students’
thinking on the future? How to include sustainable development education in the
curriculum in a meaningful manner? How can the teachers collaborate for
creating stimulating activities pertaining to this subject? How can the
students be helped to think of environmental issues globally as well as
locally? Schools are the best places to ask these thought-provoking questions.
As responsible citizens of
the world, it is our duty to make our children aware of the complex problems
that the world will face in absence of sustainable development. Such an
education will slowly and gradually gain popularity as the problems of
environmental degradation, climate change, and energy shortage, start becoming
more evident.
