Primary school pupils to learn more about climate change

Primary school pupils in the country are to learn more about climate change and its effects on the environment, which has been made part of the curriculum to be studied at the primary level from the beginning of the academic year in September this year.

As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to train teachers across the country with Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) before the academic year starts.

The objective is to improve knowledge and help change behaviours of both children and adults towards the environment and to help in the fight against the impact of climate change in the country.

Stakeholders

The acting Executive Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr John Pwamang, who stated this at a meeting in Accra on Tuesday, to brief stakeholders on the incorporation of climate change in the school curriculum, noted that it had become such an important issue since some of the interventions that needed to be done required change in the attitudes of people.

 “The EPA, with support from the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation will develop what is called the ‘Climate Change Learning Strategy’, and one of the key strategies is to ensure that we incorporate climate change into the primary school curriculum,” he said.

He said the EPA was grateful to the GES for the partnership, as well as the other stakeholders for the success of the issue, stressing, “There are other countries which are also trying the same thing, and I think we have made a lot of progress because of the good collaboration we had with the GES.”

He acknowledged the support of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, which aided with the technical assistance needed to get the work going, pointing out that: “We are now developing the teaching and learning materials so that when the curriculum is embedded into the system, the teachers will have the materials ready to teach the children.”

Presentation

Making a presentation on the Integration of Climate Change and Green Economy into School Curricula, the National Focal Person on Climate Change Education and Awareness Creation, Dr Emmanuel Tachie Obeng, said all the subjects, including Science, English Language and Mathematics, had some aspects of climate change.

From the primary level, he said, the study of climate change would be extended to the junior high school and senior high school levels.

The move, among other things, he said, was to make schoolchildren environmentally conscious.