Nurture Youth to become agent of change for creating a sustainable future: ACCU’s approach to ESD in formal education through ESD Rice Project and ESD Food Project

By Miki Saito

ESD Rice Project (2011-2015) and ESD Food Project (2015 -) are international collaborative learning projects in the
Asia and the Pacific. Two projects aim to nurture children to contribute to sustainable development as change agents
through the common theme of rice/food. Through rice/food, learners understand local and global challenges, think of
solutions and take actions for positive changes, towards creating a sustainable community and a sustainable world. In
2013-2015, the ESD Rice Project had conducted at 19 schools from elementary level to secondary level in six countries.
The ESD Food Project has been implementing in 12 schools of India and Japan from elementary level to secondary
level.  read more...

Youth Empowerment & Capacity Building

By Farida Fvahedi

India has the largest youth population in the world. According to the National Youth Policy (2014), Youth in the age group of 15-29 years comprise 27.5% of the population. The nation is struggling to understand what role youth play in the development processes in India.  In turn, institutions at all levels (public, private and civil society) are asking how to effectively engage the youth while simultaneously meeting the multi-faceted needs of this specific population. It is often said that youth are the leaders of tomorrow.  This is clearly true, but young people are very much present in the neighborhoods and villages, work places and communities in India. They are potentially the leaders of today as well.  read more...

A Study - Need of Reorienting School Curriculum to Integrate ESD and Active Citizenship

By  Dr. Geetika Saluja

Status of Environmental Education at Secondary School Level in India

By Homa Praveen & Dr. Nakhat Nasreen

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the global priorities that have to be achieved within the next 15 years from 2016 to 2030. Education has a central role to play in the realization of SDGs. In this context, the place of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has become more important.  Environmental Education (EE) is used as a tool for ESD at school level in India. The implementation of EE in the formal school curriculum has been structured by two national policy documents: the National Curriculum Framework 2005 and the directive of the Supreme Court. Following the directive, NCERT has developed a graded syllabus for EE for class 1 to 12 standards. At secondary school level, infusion model has been adopted for imparting EE.   read more...

Protecting the future: the role of school education in sustainable development.

By  Colin Bangay

This paper explores the potential contribution of education to sustainable development. Drawing on recent evidence it argues that education could play a stronger role - a position reinforced by the new sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, securing this contribution will have to be achieved in an era where educational delivery will be increasingly impacted by climate/environment change.
The paper explores the relationship between education and sustainable development through an Indian case study. It covers why education is important; impediments that reduce educational impact, and an innovative programme of environmental education that offers insight on ways forward. read more...

Mari Shala Project: Piloting an approach to promote Quality Education in Government Primary Schools of rural Gujarat

By  Helen Knowles

Research has shown that it doesn’t matter how educated a teacher is or how big the classes are or how well designed the textbooks. What matters is how the teachers talk to and deal with the children. That’s what makes an impact on learning outcomes.

Reach to Teach and CEE, in partnership with the Government of Gujarat, are piloting an approach designed to make a very real change in the way that teachers engage and teach primary school children from rural communities in Gujarat. read more...

Whole school approach to ESD ‐ contribution to implement the SDGs in general

By Reiner Mathar

This paper was developed within the context of the ESD‐Expertnet, an international cooperation
in the field of ESD including experts from India, Mexico, South‐Africa and Germany. The network
was initiated by the German Government, Ministry for international Cooperation in 2010 and
works in the field, leadership training, training of multipliers, mentorship for ESD and material
development. The network is maintained and organised by “Engagement Global” the German
Agency for development cooperation within the education sector and the civil
society.(www.esd‐expert.net) read more...

Civic Education for Sustainable Development in the view of the UNESCO-Decade 2005-2014

By Andreas Brunold

Since the 1990`s, the principle of sustainable development has increasingly been adopted by policy makers and civil societies all over the world. With the acceptance of this principle, the significance of education for sustainable development (ESD) has also been recognised. Increased awareness of the problems of environmental chal-lenges, globalisation and poverty has meant that the concepts of environmental edu-cation, global learning, and education in development policy have been consistently oriented towards sustainability. This leads to an increased awareness that globalisa-tion processes must be shaped in accordance with the objectives of sustainable de-velopment, both nationally and internationally. By encouraging the idea of sustain-ability to take root in all areas of education systems, the World Decade of Education for Sustainable Development from 2005 to 2014 was intended to take significant steps towards greater educational sustainability. read more...

Transaction of Science Curriculum towards Sustainable Development [Sustainable Wheel of Science Curriculum]

By Fouzia Khanam, Nikhat and Dr. Zebunnisa Khan

Curriculum is the medium of instruction for the formal education system addressing the future generation of a country. As we know that social change is a dynamic phenomenon,as is the medium through which it is instructed. Socurriculum is always in a dynamic state, understanding this curriculum should always bewith the pace of time dynamics. Hence
curriculum should fulfil the need of the present generation and prepare them for future. We know that preparing the present generation such that it looks after the need of future generation, is what known as the concept of sustainability. In present world dogmas and belief has no worth if it has no reason to support it, the reason which is the basis of science
and its education. So, the reasoning ability is the basis of construction or destruction of the societies’ future, and thus the concept of sustainability should be at the very centre of reasoning and consequently at the core of science curricula. The objectives of the study are to analyse the structure of revised blooms taxonomy in its variousdomains(i.e. cognitive,
affective and conative),to study the components of education for sustainable development( ESD, i.e. knowledge, skills, perspectives, values, and issues),to find out these components in the secondary school science curriculum(NCERT) through content analysis and to suggest new science curriculum model that transacts to promote sustainable development in India. read more...

Karadi Path pedagogy

By Preetika V. Krishnan and Sathyanand

The Karadi Path pedagogy of English language learning provides agency to the students studying in government schools in India by foregrounding the silent processes of learning in the formal education system. The pedagogy implemented in collaboration with UNICEF, US-AID Read Alliance, the state governments of Goa, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and NGOs deconstructs conventional teaching of English to improve students’ overall academic performance. It recognises English as a powerful tool for change in the multilingual environment of India. It achieves its goals of social impact by rethinking English as an environment to be delivered to classrooms as against a subject to be taught using textbooks. It simulates the natural, derivative processes of language learning in the classroom through a curriculum that pays attention to the silent, liminal and intangible areas of English and its acquisition. The paper proposes to show, using case studies, how consciously building joyful reading and epiphanies into an English curriculum at the primary and upper-primary levels helps students share a deep bond with educational materials, become eager communicators, and creative and critical thinkers with a worldview steeped in humanity.