A new climate change curriculum guide for teachers of primary five to secondary five classes which takes into account the situation for Seychelles will soon be introduced in schools.

“The aim of the guide is to educate the population. For you to be able to educate the people on climate change, we need to start with the younger population,” said Betty Victor, the project manager for the Ecosystem Based Adaptation(EBA) to climate change. 

As a small island developing state, Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise, salt-water intrusion, flooding from heavy rains and coral bleaching. Therefore educating the public about the causes, impacts and actions needed to address climate change is a critical step. Many schools are already educating the students on the subject through science, geography and extracurricular programmes.

The guide will provide ideas to teachers on how to integrate active and inquiry-based activities about climate change into different subjects in the curriculum. It will contain puzzle games, activities and worksheets on climate change-related topics, and a list of other resources, organisations and websites that would be useful to teachers.  

A Seychellois consultant involved in the project, Terence Vel, said the guide will also contain pictures that will show vulnerable sites where the climate has impacted locally.

“The pictures will be more interactive and during lessons, students will be more aware of the sites that are vulnerable and will be able to make a difference in their community to help reduce human interference,” said Vel.

During the workshop, teachers were able to test some of the activities and provide feedback that will be incorporated into the final version, due for completion in February.

A participant in the workshop, Veronica Souyanne, said that the guide will be a useful tool for teachers.“I am very happy that our consultants are consulting with teachers to have their input. It is not only something that we want to just drop with teachers at school. The output, in the end, will be something that the education sector has contributed towards,” said Victor, the project manager  

“There are a lot of interactive pieces in the guide that will surely help to create awareness on climate change. As a teacher I am ready to make use of this guide in the subjects I teach,” she said.

The project is being jointly implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP). It is being financed by the Adaptation Fund. The Fund was established in 2001 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries parties to the Kyoto Protocol, that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. 

Forrás: www.seychellesnewsagency.com