Children have more to lose from climate change than any other group in society
JEREMY COLSON
Environmental studies are not readily included in the curriculum of most Thai schools.
A ministerial decree issued in November 2001 required the more than 32,000 schools in Thailand to teach a national core curriculum of eight subjects. However, environment studies as a distinct subject is not among the core subjects within the official curriculum.
Also, the basic education curriculum makes numerous references to the importance of studying the environment and encourages schools to bring environmental awareness into their lessons and projects.
Some experts think this allows the schools too much leeway and gives them the opportunity to just leave out environment education (EE). Yes, they are supposed to teach it from within the eight core subjects, but there is no exam on EE, and it is difficult for the Ministry of Education to check performance.
Change agent
Chaiyod Bunyagidj, vice-president of the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), has been campaigning for a change to the curriculum since 1998, but to no avail. TEI even produced a climate-change textbook for schools, but it hasn't been adopted by the ministry.
Ministry officials say there is no need to introduce environment studies as a separate subject because the children are already learning about it through the core subjects, which are "bodies of knowledge" or "areas of learning", within which there is plenty of room for EE.
Taking up the challenge
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| Children in Grades 7 to 9 at the Soon Ruam Tawan residential centre near Kanchanaburi learn how to save energy. — JEREMY COLSON |
Thai children are being taught about the environment, but the syllabus varies from school to school, and from teacher to teacher. At many schools, environmental issues are indeed being taught through the core subjects. Many schools have taken up the challenge.
They encourage their teachers to bring EE into lesson plans. Some of them even link and integrate it with lessons given by colleagues.
For example, an English teacher may explore an environmental glossary, helping the children acquire the vocabulary they need to read English-language books or web sites. At the same time, a teacher of general science may guide students on how to assess water quality by analysing samples taken from a river or tap, while a teacher of social studies may examine the Sufficiency Economy theory and the need for sustainable development of projects that consume large quantities of water.
The problems are that recalcitrant teachers usually lack the quality of teaching skills required to properly address environmental issues, and under-funded schools don't have the facilities to do anything but the absolute basics. That leaves the environment out in the cold.
External support
TEI makes up for this by running several projects that take environmental learning to the schools on a rotational basis. Ms Nongpal Chancharoen, senior research associate with the institute's Grassroots Action Programme, runs programmes and camps that bring environmental awareness to thousands of city schoolchildren.
Another institute providing avenues of learning is Mahidol University. Its Association for the Development of Environmental Quality has a residential environmental learning centre in Kanchanaburi. Several thousand children and teachers have been to the centre and come away with a different mindset.
Rajaya Suphapodok, director of Patai Udom Suksa School, Bangkok, thinks children are not learning enough. "While it is useful to learn at any age, it is much easier to develop good habits at an early age - the earlier the better," she says.
Patai Udom Suksa School is a private institution with 4,200 children, of whom 4,000 are in kindergarten through Grade 9. Rajaya wants the children to think green and grow up with a green lifestyle so that when they go out into the world, they don't fall prey to the false promises of advertising. "We want to help develop useful members of society," says Rajaya.
Call for motivation
While all teachers in Thailand have a degree, not all teachers went to teacher training college, and not all of them know a great deal about the environment. As is the case elsewhere around the world, teachers here are often poorly paid, not always well-motivated, and are employed by schools that are often starved of sufficient funds to do a great job.
But Thailand has more than its fair share of excellent teachers who are competent and who are keen on continual professional development.
At Patai Udom Suksa School, the teachers are brought together during the holidays to get the latest on climate change and environmental developments. Other schools and teachers are also doing their bit.
Park Eason, a science teacher at the environmentally well-tuned KIS International School (Bangkok), spends much of his non-classroom time researching materials for new projects and new lesson plans.
But some experts think teachers are not doing enough. Mahidol Faculty of Environment assistant professor Dr Chirapol Sintunawa says: "Unfortunately, our schoolteachers spend too much time watching soap operas on television, when they should be making interesting lesson plans. They need to let their students know there are serious challenges ahead. We are very near the tipping point."
Availability of resources
Teachers such as Eason are sufficiently knowledgeable to be able to distil useful information from online university libraries and make it understandable to whichever grade he is teaching.
But not all teachers have had the training necessary to use this type of resource, and some don't even have broadband Internet access. They have to use whatever resources that are readily available.
For example, at Thai Christian School (Bangkok), science teachers in the English programme are using EE units that are embedded in science books produced in Malaysia for Malaysian schools. While the content is scientifically good, it is contextually and culturally inapposite to Thai children.
The TEI textbook, Global Warming Information and Education Programs for Secondary School Teachers, written for Grades 7 to 9 children, would be useful for many teachers throughout Thailand. But for many teachers, the best solution to a lack of resources is to search the Web. Rajaya says she spends a lot of time looking for new ideas and new projects.
Setting an example
Most schools are setting a good example and many have adopted practices that children can repeat at home. Children are encouraged to switch off lights, to only use air conditioning when it is strictly necessary, to recycle paper, and to assure that water taps are turned off.
But many are suspicious schools only do this because it saves them money, and that if a practice doesn't improve their finances, they are not interested.
For example, none of the schools visited by this writer appears to be using school buses converted to run on natural gas or biofuel. Most are still selling bottled water in their school shops; only one had banned plastic bags from its school shop; and none was using solar panels or a wind turbine.
For some schools, the investment in alternative energy sources is too high, and the payback time too long. Others may have the finances but not the will to really embrace sustainable practices.
More schools need to make a bigger effort because time is running out for the future of the children.
To share your views about this or other environmental topics, you may contact Jeremy via greenassembly.net . Green Assembly is a loosely knit group of individuals helping to increase environmental awareness.
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