Sustainability Education Led by Eco-Schools

The importance of sustainability education is more relevant in the present day when the global society is facing a number of environmental issues, such as climate change. The Eco-Schools, an International program of the FEE is an example of this crusade, which has a noble mission, that of educating kids and the youths on sustainable development. Eco-Schools are making a generation with a proper attitude toward the environment and its protection, which helps to solve the ecology-related problems in the future.

The Eco-Schools Program:

Beginnings:
Eco-Schools is an international program that started in 1994 and is presently active in more than seventy countries with tens of millions of students. Particularly, the program’s primary aim is to ensure that sustainable development forms part of learning institutions’ teaching, learning, administration, and school activities. This is done with the help of seven steps, which focus on student autonomy, activities, and participation, making practical use of concepts, and integrating the students with the community. 

These steps include:

Establishing an Eco-Committee:
This is a grouping of people from the learners’ side, academics, and sometimes parents and other members of the community to help spearhead the sustainability paradigm within a school.

Conducting an Environmental Review:
Schools subsequently evaluate their current status to determine possible impacts we have on the environment and the changes that could be made.

Developing an Action Plan:
According to the review, schools have a targeted strategy along with set objectives and measures towards the ecological impact of the learning institution.

Monitoring and Evaluation:
Schools monitor their development in order to observe if they are under the guidelines of sustainable development.

Linking to the Curriculum:
It is noteworthy that different subjects contain sustainability concepts so that students can get the greatest amount of knowledge regarding environmental problems.

Informing and Involving the Community:
Schools interact with the local communities in an attempt to raise awareness and ensure that many people join the Sustainability Club.

Creating an Eco-Code:
A belief that guides a school’s actions and decisions and speaks of its strategic focus on achieving sustainable development.

Effects on Student and School:
The changes induced by the participation of a school in the programme are vast and echo within the respective educational institution. Eco-Schools embedded in the concepts of learning enable students to understand environmental challenges and acquire the skills of problem-solving, communication, and management. This form of learning greatly improves their results, whilst preparing them for future functions as knowledgeable members of society.

The advantages for schools cannot be listed; they are numerous. Several authors noted that companies who participated in the frame of the Eco-Schools program mark the reduction of operational costs due to energy and materials savings. Further, schools that have adopted sustainable development are likely to have a better-integrated sense of community as well as better relations with other stakeholders in that particular area. Being an accredited institution attains another accolade for the institution under the Eco-Schools program, which is the Green Flag. This further makes the institution famous and attractive.

Community and Global Impact:
It is important to note that through Eco-Schools, the student's influence goes beyond the compound of the school. Thus, the objectives of the program are achieved through students’ participation in actual environmental projects that cause a ripple effect, encouraging families and communities to become environmentally conscious. This method of going to the grassroots level is helpful in achieving maximum awareness and participation to enhance the environment.

At the international level Eco-Schools support several Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations; these include; The quality Education SDG 4, clean water and sanitation SDG 6, affordable and clean energy SDG 7, and climate change SDG 13. As such, through positively developing environmental citizenry, Eco-Schools are contributing to the realization of a sustainable global society.

The Achievements and the Expected Trends:
Worth-mentioning, the cases of the Eco-Schools’ success would hardly be numbered, and they are quite different from each other. In a primary school in Kenya, children used dust and sand to cultivate a play garden out of a barren playground, or in a high school in Denmark where students slashed their school’s carbon emissions with energy-saving technologies, scientifically proven results are evident. Such stories illustrate the flexibility and viability of the program in the various cultural and socio-economic settings.

Altogether, the future of Eco-Schools seems quite promising. Since the understanding of why education for sustainability is essential is slowly gaining traction, the growing interest is likely to make more schools embrace the cause, hence increasing the coverage of this social movement. More technological developments and better availability of more resources are seen to improve the efficiency of the program in imparting knowledge and skills adequate to address environmental problems among the young.

In conclusion, Eco-schools are the pioneers of sustainability education, which helps to develop a definite generation of sustainable thinkers and doers. Through the integration of sustainability in the world’s education systems, Eco-Schools are no longer educating children and youngsters about the environment but rather engaging them effectively into making a change. Looking at the future, the possibility of having a positive impact on the future of the movement on the global population is tremendous as the possibilities of changing the future for the better extends to environmental problems.