Eco education in Abu Dhabi schools

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the Abu Dhabi Educational Council (Adec) organised a workshop on a pilot programme that will embed environmental education in school curricula.The joint initiative entails continued cooperation between the EAD and Adec targeting Kindergarten, Cycle 1 government schools and private primary schools in the emirate as part of its pilot phase. In the next few years, the initiative will be implemented on a larger scale to reach even more students.Through the programme, the EAD and Adec aim to develop a society that is environmentally aware in order to be able to contribute positively to the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.The initiative comes in line with the Adec’s commitment to offer its students some of the world’s best education opportunities.  The workshop focused on the importance of embedding locale-specific environmental issues in the school curricula, which will help promote sustainable development aspects across the school community.With this new addition to the curricula, the two organisations hope to broaden students’ knowledge and promote a positive environmental behaviour, paving the way for a more sustainable future for the emirate of Abu Dhabi.The workshop was inaugurated by Adec Director-General Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, EAD Deputy Secretary-General Jaber Al Jaberi and Adec Executive Director of the School Operations Sector Mohammed Salem Al Dhaheri. It was attended by principals, vice-principals, Arabic and English heads of faculty and science teachers.Dr Al Khaili explained that the programme comes in line with the Adec’s 10-Year Strategic Plan to improve the quality of schools in Abu Dhabi on a par with international standards, as well as provide access to quality education to all students equally.“Environment-friendly initiatives help encourage a positive learning environment in classrooms, as well as bring about positive behaviour among students,” Dr Al Khaili said.Al Jaberi said while environmental concepts are already taught in the classroom, they are not very locale-specific or oriented to a real-life context.“Today, school students constitute over a quarter of the total population in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is very important that they are equipped with the right critical thinking abilities, problem-solving skills and the right mindset to be able to innovate, contribute and develop leadership skills to work towards a sustainable future,” Al Jaberi said.“The only way to ensure that environmental programmes and resource material developed by Abu Dhabi Government for schools are used and implemented is by integrating them into the curriculum either by issuing guidelines (as in the case of private schools) and/or directives (as in the case of government schools) by the Adec,” he added