Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in my Country

 

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in my Country

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Future planning is currently the most prevalent component of existence. All life on earth is threatened by human activity, which is transforming the climate, species, and landscapes of the world in new ways. The world is perpetually becoming more complex and unstable. On the other hand, even though the world is becoming more interconnected, violations of human rights, inequality, and poverty continue to be a threat to global sustainability and peace. As a result, everyone is now concerned about education for sustainable development (ESD) in all schools as they get ready for the future. Every school needs to adopt new teaching methods to prepare the world for calamity before it occurs.

The video “Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) - Preparing for the Future” examines how we are educating today's students for an uncertain future affected by climate change and other threats to global sustainability through the views of many different countries, including India, Finland, Canada, and Ireland. It also shows us how our kids, either individually or collectively, get ready for life. But to create anything viable, they need a specific set of abilities and expertise.

The definition of ESD given by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2022) reads, "Education for Sustainable Development empowers learners to take informed decisions and responsible actions for environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations while respecting cultural diversity," describes how ESD is currently practiced in my country. In terms of the global goal for sustainable development, my nation has firmly rooted its concept and guiding principle in the GNH (Gross National Happiness) philosophy, which serves as the central pillar of our educational system. The visionary remark made by our fourth king, "GNH is more essential than GDP," in the early 1970s sparked the motivation (RGoB, 2012). The GNH concept, which addresses issues like the country's concerns about unsustainable patterns of consumption and economic development, increasing pressure on the natural world, and environmental conservation, serves as the foundation for all institutional structures and policy instruments at all levels.

In 2008, teachers around the nation received widespread training on GNH, with a focus on sustainability ideas and how to integrate them into the curriculum in the classroom. Significant curriculum reform took place the same year, and teachers are still given access to the relevant awareness program today. Through their lectures on sustainability, intercultural and interreligious understanding, diversity, inclusion, identity, and other topics for peaceful conversations, all instructors are urged to impart GNH ideals and sustainability concepts to their students.

In my country, a one-week value program for students is held at the beginning of the academic year. Through this program, students are taught to recognize a few issues, identify approaches to global citizenship through the promotion of an all-encompassing culture of peace, and then develop awareness throughout their lives. Additionally, students are taught how to share ideas and duties with others to foster compassionate attitudes, empathy, solidarity, and respect for variety among the people they encounter. Fortunately, every school in Bhutan has a UNESCO club that promotes awareness of the SDGs throughout the curriculum and is run by a teacher with appropriate training. The school conducts teaching observations to determine whether teachers are putting these ideas into practice in the classroom.

I also play a significant role in my school as the coordinator of "GCED (Global Citizenship Education)" as I am trained in "Education for International Understanding-EIU" by UNESCO-APCEIU. I train at least sixty students and all teachers annually to create awareness about global issues and international values in the context of local and national issues to help students become agents of peace in the country and to help teachers become the warriors of sustainability education in the classroom. They are encouraged to instill in students the values, attitudes, and behaviors that support responsible global citizenship.

In my opinion, it is essential to integrate sustainable development education into our curricula to prepare our students, who are the future citizens of the world, to meet the challenges they will face in the future by being globally competent.

References

Royal Government of Bhutan. (2012). Bhutan: In Pursuit of Sustainable Development. National Report for The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/798bhutanreport.pdf

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2022). Education for sustainable development. http://uis.unesco.org/en/glossary-term/education-sustainable-development

UNESCO Multimedia V&S. (2021). Preparing for the Future - Education for Sustainable Development. https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/document-2588