By Abida Begum
Faculty, AKU-PDCN
The increasing frequency of extreme weather threats, rising temperatures, and worsening environmental damage warns of the urgent need for climate change education in this mountainous terrain of Gilgit-Baltistan. Climate change has become a serious threat to this region and is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century. Mother nature has been striking us recently with Glacial Lake Outbrust Floods, rain floods, cloudbursts and landslides but we are yet to realize the intensity.
The deteriorating climate changes are putting pressure on our unprepared educational system resulting into the destruction of schools, displaced communities, and interrupted children’s learning opportunities. Children in these conditions are especially at high- risk from the escalation of climate-related disasters. The increasing disasters negatively affect children’s well-being to flourish and reach their full potential. The region is yet to realize the potential of schools as the powerful spaces for climate change education, especially for learners, helping them to connect their knowledge with real world climate challenges.
More than ever, we must prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and values they need to manage the increasingly complex social and environmental issues of today in order to prevent environmental problems from becoming more disastrous. At the school level, small-scale interventions can create long-lasting environment friendly ideals, attitudes, and characters among the younger generation of this region. Integration of climate education into the school education syllabus can greatly contribute to the cause of environmental protection. Integrating climate change education into science subjects such as biology, chemistry, and physics allows students to explore climate change issues through a multidisciplinary lens, fostering a deeper understanding of its scientific and socio-economic dimensions.
Even at the primary level organizing local fieldwork and observational studies can help students explore real-world climate and sustainability issues in their own communities. Fieldwork is an essential component of our social studies syllabus, offering students hands-on experiences to explore, observe and interact with the environment. Exposure to observe the glaciers, rivers, and mountains gives them the chance to explore nature directly, encouraging curiosity and caring for the environment. Likewise, activities such as gardening or recycling help children practice sustainable habits in meaningful ways. These practical experiences make abstract concepts more tangible and help students see the relevance of climate education in their lives. Such activities must be coupled with discussions and debates for widening the climate-related education of young children. To increase students’ awareness of environmental issues and motivate them to support sustainable practices, invitation of specialists and guest speakers from the fields of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental studies can further augment the process of learning.
Teachers must realize their critical role in environmental education for the young children in the schools. It is teachers’ prime responsibility to educate the children to live in an environmentally conscientious manner. Teachers need to employ various pedagogical methods for bringing climate change education into real classrooms which includes the inquiry-based learning and problem-focused, project-based learning assignments by involving students with hands-on activities to study climate change experiments, case studies, and real-world problem-solving. The teaching and learning process needs to be integrated with the environment to create a deep connection with nature, cultivate empathy for the environment, and strengthen commitment to its preservation. Lessons become more relevant and understandable when they are tied to the local environment, allowing kids to comprehend the unique climatic issues that affect their area.
Above all, this is the time where policymakers and government functionaries must realize the criticality of the situation in this vulnerable mountainous region and give top priority to climate education in our schools. Climate-related interventions like “Nature Clubs” at school level must be made mandatory for the schools and colleges so that the younger generation are prepared for the upcoming challenges.
The small-scale interventions proposed above can be rewarding in multiple ways for the younger generation. For example, integrating climate change education into core subjects can build a solid scientific foundation while highlighting real-world connections. By linking theoretical knowledge with practical applications, students can better address the environmental issues. A well-designed school syllabus with relevant teaching and learning materials can equip students with deeper knowledge and understanding of climate awareness and challenges ahead for our region. Studying the concepts like greenhouse gases as a cause of climate change, are critical for deeper comprehension of the big picture for young children.
By climate awareness interventions young students can be informed and empowered to make informed decisions, adopt sustainable practices, and contribute to climate action efforts. A well-structured climate change education enhances critical thinking and problem-solving abilities by encouraging students to analyze climate-related data, assess environmental policies, and engage in scientific inquiry. Studies have shown that students who receive education on climate change demonstrate greater environmental awareness and are more likely to advocate for sustainable initiatives.
This interactive, hands-on learning platform helps them to demonstrate their capacity as change agents and build sense of responsibility. Through this initiative they will be more inclined to act and simply discipline themselves to abstain from the human activities that harm environment like decreasing junk food, recycling, using less plastic, and developing innovative digital solutions, and can set an example for others to follow them in protecting the environment. Young students can be responsible for setting bins, sort, and mark them in various categories, such as recycling materials, organic materials, and plastic materials, where they will be responsible to deposit the organic materials into the ground and re-use the recycling materials. Students can develop a sense of growing plants and vegetables in the school grounds and in their homes.
Research studies suggest that children who participate in citizen science, fieldwork, and school-based sustainability initiatives may develop more climate literacy and are more likely to act in an environmentally friendly manner. Several industrialized nations have incorporated environmental change education into their national syllabus with an emphasis on interdisciplinary learning and the application to real-world problem solving. Some of them have incorporated indigenous knowledge in climate education whereby students learn traditional ecological practices and their relevance to contemporary concerns. Hence, climate change is one of the most pressing challenges and we are on the cusp of a situation of now or never prioritizing climate education keeping in view the vulnerability of our region.
