Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Institute for Greening Education in Nigeria (IGEN) have known as for the mixing of local weather change schooling, environmental sustainability and inexperienced abilities growth into Nigeria’s faculty curriculum to arrange learners for rising environmental challenges.
The name was made in Abuja on Thursday at a Technical Working Group (TWG) assembly on the Greening Schools and Climate Change Education Intervention (GSCCEI), held in collaboration with IGEN on the UBEC Digital Resource Centre.
The assembly featured the official launch of the State of Greening Education in Nigeria Report and its accompanying coverage transient, which give an evidence-based evaluation of the state of environmental sustainability schooling within the nation and suggest strategic coverage actions for constructing a climate-ready, inexperienced, resilient and future-ready schooling system.
The publications are anticipated to offer a framework for strengthening environmental sustainability within the schooling sector via improved insurance policies, institutional collaboration, trainer growth and sensible local weather motion in faculties.
Speaking on the occasion, UBEC Executive Secretary, Mrs Aisha Garba, represented by Dr Lydia Gbagi, reaffirmed the fee’s dedication to remodeling Nigerian faculties into environmentally accountable, climate-resilient and sustainable studying environments.
Garba mentioned the initiative was designed to equip learners not solely with educational data but additionally with the values, competencies and sensible abilities required to handle rising environmental challenges.
Providing an replace on the intervention, Gbagi disclosed that 33 states, together with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had benefited from state-level capability growth coaching.
She defined that the coaching, carried out via the State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), centered on local weather change schooling, integrating environmental sustainability into instructing and studying, establishing Climate Change and Green Champions Clubs, selling sensible greening actions and strengthening monitoring and reporting mechanisms.
According to her, UBEC had additionally developed implementation pointers and coaching supplies to help the efficient nationwide rollout of the programme.
These embody the GSCCEI Implementation Guidelines, the Handbook for Climate Change and Green Champions Clubs, and pointers for Green Schools and Climate Change Interventions.
She mentioned the National Greening Schools Programme (NGSP) had been developed as a broader framework for advancing environmental sustainability in Nigerian faculties, with seven strategic pillars guiding its implementation.
Garba additional famous that the capability growth programme had facilitated the emergence of state-level grasp trainers who would lengthen the coaching to native authorities areas and particular person faculties.
She mentioned the intervention aligned with the Federal Government’s schooling reform agenda, the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative, the Climate Change Act 2021, Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions and UNESCO’s Greening Education Partnership.
Earlier, IGEN Executive Secretary, Unyime Robinson, described the launch of the report and coverage transient as a big milestone in efforts to place schooling as a strategic software for addressing local weather change, environmental degradation and different sustainability challenges.
Robinson noticed that local weather change, biodiversity loss and unsustainable consumption have been more and more affecting communities, livelihoods and schooling methods, making coordinated and sustained interventions crucial.
He confused that greening schooling ought to lengthen past instructing college students about local weather change to integrating sustainability into schooling insurance policies, curricula, faculty infrastructure, institutional administration, trainer growth and sensible abilities acquisition.
He defined that IGEN was established to advertise environmental sustainability, local weather change schooling and inexperienced abilities throughout Nigeria’s schooling system.
According to him, the newly launched report examines the present state of greening schooling within the nation, identifies progress and implementation gaps, and supplies suggestions for strengthening insurance policies, institutional coordination, implementation and accountability.
He emphasised that the affect of the report would finally rely upon the extent to which its suggestions have been translated into sensible actions.
Robinson due to this fact known as for stronger collaboration amongst federal and state governments, schooling businesses, growth companions, civil society organisations, the non-public sector and different stakeholders to make sure efficient implementation.
He additionally advocated elevated funding in trainer coaching, climate-smart faculty infrastructure and inexperienced abilities growth to arrange younger Nigerians for rising alternatives within the inexperienced economic system.
Robinson recommended the African Centre for Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, Green Schools International Foundation, researchers and different companions for his or her contributions to the event of the report and coverage transient.
Both UBEC and IGEN expressed optimism that the publications would supply useful steerage for ongoing schooling reforms and strengthen efforts to make environmental sustainability an integral a part of Nigeria’s schooling system.
They urged stakeholders to translate the suggestions into concrete interventions that will place faculties as centres of environmental studying, innovation and sensible local weather motion.
The initiative is anticipated to contribute to elevating a era of environmentally acutely aware Nigerians geared up with the data, values and abilities to help a greener, extra resilient and sustainable society.
