The Kuwait Environment Protection Society announced the completion of the first part of the thirteenth season of the (Green Schools) program for the academic year, which it launched in coordination with the Ministry of Education, revealing that it came as a combination of in-person presentations at schools and the Society’s training center, in addition to specialized electronic workshops through (Zoom) technology.
Janan Behzad, Secretary General of the Association, confirmed that “the thirteenth edition of the program comes as a continuation of its role in raising awareness and providing scientific and practical training, and as a guarantee of the continuity of education and training through a wide range of learning materials available to access environmental information on modern environmental issues and enhance extracurricular education,” noting that registration in the program was electronic, and confirming that the program focused in its first part on climate change and preparation for the climate conference, where certified trainers presented an educational and training version for the climate literacy campaign.
Behzad stated that the training on climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals included teachers and students, adding: “The project to study awareness of climate science and climate change is an extensive study that aims to analyze the cognitive and behavioral dimension of climate action and investigate general environmental values among university students, researchers, academics, students and teachers. The results of the study and survey will be the product of the current academic year for more than one school. In the end, the study will determine what results from public awareness about climate change in terms of opportunities, gaps and challenges facing the study community. It is a tool for developing environmental education and awareness programs and setting priorities to address the negatives and enhance the strengths.”.
She emphasized that “the Green Schools Program includes many topics, events and activities in the fields of environmental awareness that contribute to developing and promoting active citizenship among young people, and encouraging environmental volunteer work in the school community. The association also works to enrich and enhance the program with emerging topics in national environmental work, year after year, to achieve more of the desired benefit,” explaining that “the topics included in the program are covered by specialized professors who are members of the association in the specific field of the topic.
Janan Behzad added that “the topics that received the most requests were specialized workshops on sustainable schools (Friends of the Environment Club – Safety and security in green schools), solid waste management (landfills and waste handling in Kuwait – recycling), and climate change in Kuwait and its effects on the environment.“ She noted that ”the events included activities to promote the implementation of the Environmental Protection Law in schools and to raise awareness of the importance of addressing the causes of climate change, both for individual students and for schools as institutions involved in education and training.”.
She concluded, “In recent years, there has been a growing interest in including climate change and sustainability topics in the Green Schools program as a result of the urgent need to support education curricula to raise awareness of climate change issues and the need to integrate sustainability into education.”.
Janan Behzad stressed that “education is a powerful tool to empower individuals and communities to deal with environmental challenges such as climate change. Schools and universities can promote awareness of climate change issues and their impact on the environment and society. It is difficult to separate science today from the reality that students live in, especially in areas affected by the effects of climate change. Schools and universities can teach climate change concepts, related sciences, and the importance of taking action to reduce its effects.”.
The Kuwait Environment Protection Society considered that “the general goal of environmental education is to enable individuals to become responsible environmental citizens committed to preserving the environment and contributing to achieving sustainable development, as education can provide individuals with the skills necessary to deal with climate change, such as understanding sustainability methods, preserving natural resources, developing environmental technologies, improving infrastructure to receive changes, training to confront them, and enabling the most vulnerable communities to deal with them.”.
