Friday, June 13, 2008 Idis pushes for aggressive environment drive By Grace L. Plata
ADVOCATES of environment protection urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to be "consciously aggressive" in promoting the protection of the environment among students particularly in the elementary level.
Lia Jasmin Esquillo, executive director of The Interface Development Interventions Inc. (Idis), posed this challenge noting that environmental protection is not thoroughly discussed in schools.
"This is a fact that might highlight the question of whether or not the academe is playing an active role in addressing the destruction of the environment," Esquillo said in a statement released Thursday.
Esquillo said that while environmental protection is mentioned in some textbooks, it is not being given importance and emphasis and that the data are not localized.
"It is unfortunate that we do not really see environmental protection integrated in the curriculum of our schools when we know how pressing this concern is, and given the importance of education as a vehicle in shaping the minds of the children. The academe must do its part in solving this problem by formally teaching environmental protection in their classes," Esquillo said.
Esquillo said the schools must show their "relevance by educating the students about their roles in curbing the ever-alarming condition of the environment. We really need to drastically change the mindset of people in terms of living in harmony with nature and it is better that we start them young."
Environmental protection, she said, often appears as something unknown to the students and this is primarily because of the lack effort from the academe to give it focus and attention. She said that students only get to know and understand the issue during forums but not during formal class sessions.
"A lot of things about the environment must be taught to the students--from the importance of biodiversity and its relation to global warming or the supply of clean and drinking water down to the more complex issues like how destructive mining is or how government's program on cash crop production have choked food security and sustainable agriculture," Esquillo said.
She said this poses a challenge to education authorities since they would be tasked to reveal the truth about how the environment is threatened and destroyed now by the very programs espoused by the national government.
"Surely it will become a difficult task for the entire education department as it will clearly become counterproductive to the agenda of the national government. But the truth these children must know and understand. If indeed this department is out to educate the students, they better start educating the truth of the matter," Esquillo said. (GLP with Press release)
