CCC to form group to design curriculum on climate change lessons

The Climate Change Commission (CCC) is organizing a group composed of experts and university presidents tasked to design a climate change curriculum as part of the law mandating the integration of environmental education in schools.

“Ang isang bagong tayo namin ngayon ay yung itatayo namin na Climate Change Training and Education Command, na kung saan ang mamumuno dito ay mga doktor, mga PhD ho, mga presidente ng state colleges, para sila yung mag-design ng training module or program,” said CCC Climate Change Task Force commandant Ret. Brigadier General Gerardo Zamudio in “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.”

(We will establish the Climate Change Training and Education Command. This will be led by doctors or PhD holders, and presidents of state colleges — who will be responsible for designing the training modules and programs.)

Under the “National Environmental Awareness and Education Act of 2008,” the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are required to include environment education, and awareness programs and activities in the National Service Training Program (NSTP).

“So ang uunahin namin is magawa yung curriculum na ito para yung lahat ng mga NSTP implementers  or coordinators ay malaman nila yung mga batas…para mai-communicate nila ito sa mga estudyante natin,” said Zamudio.

(Our priority is to finish this curriculum so that all NSTP implementers and coordinators will be knowledgeable of the laws... this will enable them to effectively communicate these concepts to our students.)

The law also provides that environmental education “shall encompass environmental concepts and principles, environmental laws, the state of international and local environment, local environmental best practices, the threats of environmental degradation and its impact on human well-being.”

“It shall cover both theoretical and practicum modules comprising activities, projects, programs including, but not limited to, tree planting; waste minimization, segregation, recycling and composting; freshwater and marine conservation; forest management and conservation; relevant livelihood opportunities and economic benefits and other such programs and undertakings to aid the implementation of the different environmental protection law,” the law states. — BAP, GMA Integrated News