Teachers want climate change education in schools

THE Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) has called on government to include climate change education in the school curriculum.

Zimta chief executive Sifiso Ndlovu said climate change education could not be ignored as the country has not been spared its effects that include natural disasters and environmental dilapidation.

“Education unions should step up and strengthen their advocacy and action on quality climate change education by urging governments to engineer an educational curricular that is underpinned by quality climate education, ensuring learners' exit profiles have appropriate knowledge, skills and aptitudes,” Ndlovu said in a statement yesterday.

“Profiles should be continuously assessed throughout schooling. The future belongs to the young people, but we have only mortgaged this planet from them. Our ecosystem stewardship must be anchored on resilient education that guarantees sustainability and climate justice.”

He said there was need for the country to come up with a carefully thought-out climate change education strategy that encompasses capacity-building, facilitative regulatory and policy frameworks, financed infrastructure and planned action for transition.

“For unions and governments, quality climate change education is now necessary and more urgent than ever before and should be strategically applied as diagnostic tools in needs assessment, response tools in addressing climate change effects and impacts, adaptive tools in building resilient education, and knowledge brokering for educating missions about climate change education,” Ndlovu said.

He said education was a critical agent in addressing climate change in order to achieve sustainable development goals.

“The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change assigns responsibility to parties of the Convention to undertake educational and public awareness campaigns on climate change, and to ensure public participation in programmes and information access on the issue,” Ndlovu said.