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UNICEF Maldives Case Study: Drivers of and challenges to climate change and environmental education across-sectors
Project:
Summary:
The Maldives, a nation of small islands with fragile ecosystems, has long recognized the importance of education and environmental sustainability. Strong political backing currently exists for building resilience to disasters caused by natural hazards and adaptation to climate change. Environmental education has been part of the national school curriculum since the 1980s but has been taught through the traditional exam-driven method of teaching practised in the Maldives, with great emphasis on ‘rote’ learning. As a result, an assessment revealed that, although communities were well aware of environmental problems, they did not know how to take action to address them. Addressing this gap through a more child-centred learning approach, the government, in partnership with UNICEF, designed a revised curriculum and teacher training course with emphasis on the development of knowledge and skills and exploration of attitudes and values through activity-oriented, inquiry-based teaching. The new child-centred learning approach will facilitate students to understand the world around them and think for a sustainable future.
Adaptation Experience:
Vulnerability to Climate Change More than 80% of the islands making up the Maldives are less than 1 meter above mean sea level and 96% are less than 1km2. The low-lying and small size of the islands places the inhabitants, their livelihoods and critical infrastructure at very high risk from the predicted sea level rise. Stresses to the coral reefs such as increase in sea surface temperatures are also alarming since Maldives is heavily reliant on the proper functioning and the survival of the coral reef system. Moreover, the 26th December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami demonstrated the vulnerability of Maldives to natural disasters affecting nearly one-third of the population directly by the loss or damage to homes, livelihoods and infrastructure. Studies reveal that, the geographic location of the country, being situated across the equator in the Indian Ocean, increases the vulnerability of Maldives as it exposes the country to different natural hazards such as tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, floods induced by heavy rainfall, storm surges, swell waves, drought, earthquakes and tsunamis. Maldivian communities are already experiencing water shortage, damage to homes and infrastructure, damage to food crops from salt-water intrusion and increase in epidemic outbreaks of diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya due to climate related hazards. The impacts of climate change are being exacerbated by lack of proper waste and sewage management systems and unsustainable development practices such as sand mining, dredging, reef entrance blasting and inappropriate design and construction of coastal infrastructure has made the islands more fragile and vulnerable. Education as a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy A quality education is necessary to achieve climate change adaptation in the short and long term throughout the islands. People, especially young people, with access to an empowering and relevant education will have the necessary knowledge, skills, innovation and leadership to address current and emerging climate-related threats. Recognizing this, in 2001, the Maldives national strategy to address climate change highlighted the need to include climate change education in the national curriculum. Accordingly, the issue of climate change and natural disasters were integrated within the existing subject of environmental education between 2003 and 2009. Complementing this effort, in 2006, UNICEF engaged with government and NGO partners to develop teacher training and a resource pack to deal with gaps in addressing the environmental problems faced by the island communities, and address lack of teacher’s capacity for implementing activity oriented, inquiry model of teaching. This approach of child-centred learning is necessary for education to be empowering and effective (for more information please refer to UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools Manual).
Results and Learning:
Multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral dialogue is crucial
- The revised Environmental Studies curriculum addressing climate change and natural disasters from a local context were developed with input from various stakeholders such as NGOs, primary schools and different sectors from the government (environment, fisheries, tourism and health).
- The goal of climate change adaptation through basic education are supported and strengthened by an enabling policy environment and other programmes addressing climate change, disaster risk and environmental concerns in the Maldives including diploma and undergraduate programmes on environmental management, training of government officials, environmental awareness campaigns by NGOs and civil society groups, and projects supported by international organizations to build community resilience to natural disasters and climate change.
- Moving forward, it will be important to involve other Ministries such as the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and other religions as the negative impacts of climate change are perceived from a religious point of view by many, undermining the scientific evidence.
Education is ineffective if it is not taught using child-centred learning/teaching methods.
- Environmental education has been part of the national school curriculum since the 1980s but has been taught through the traditional exam-driven method of teaching practised in the Maldives, with great emphasis on ‘rote’ learning. As a result, a UNICEF funded assessment revealed that, although communities were well aware of environmental problems, they did not know how to take action to address them.
- The resource pack developed by UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the NGO Live and Learn Environmental Education (LLEE), primarily to address the gaps in learning/teaching methodology, includes Best Practice Guidelines for teaching Environmental Studies, a set of activity-based text books, field guides to local plants and animals, and an environmental toolbox for children comprised of practical tools to monitor wind, tide, water quality and coral health.
- The Child Friendly Schooling (CFS) approach, first introduced by UNICEF in the Maldives in 2002, has become a key driver for scaling up environmental education and addressing climate change in pre- and primary schools. Based on the pillars of child-centeredness, democratic participation, inclusiveness and protective environments, the CFS approach instigates a holistic framework and creates safe environments (ability of schools to withstand natural disasters) and sustainable practices (utilization of sustainable resources in school construction).
- Major setbacks are: the overall shortage of qualified local teachers, inaccessibility of new teaching materials and knowledge on local context in some areas, and hindrances in effective distribution, delivery and dissemination of information regarding the resource pack to the relevant teachers. An obstacle to activity oriented learning, such as outdoor field trips, has been the perception of parents that their children aren’t learning if they are not taking exams and their student books aren’t filled with notes.
Teacher Resource Centres, the training of trainers approach and e-learning courses can provide a low-cost solution to reaching teachers and students on scattered islands but have limitations.
- Teacher Resource Centers (TRC), equipped with a computer laboratory, broadband internet access and other facilities, were established in each administrative atoll.
- In 2009, TRC coordinators were given a comprehensive training on the inquiry model of teaching and subsequently trained 108 teachers from across the country.
- An e-learning course was developed however due limited technical capacity in the respective government departments, accreditation of the course has been delayed, thereby restricting its access to the teachers.
- The potential effectiveness of TRCs is limited due to logistical challenges. As TRCs have been established in one island of each administrative atoll (generally the atoll capital), teachers from other islands within that atoll are unable to access TRCs and utilise the resources due to financial and time constraints.
Sustainability:
Strong political will exists to finalize the implementation of the revised national curriculum. Capacity development through an established education system is inherently sustainable. However, the lack of qualified local teachers and coordination in the dissemination of resources and knowledge among various atolls will need to be addressed for the ultimate success of the programme.
Replication:
In the Maldives, teacher training and dissemination of the activity-oriented environmental education resource pack continues. The new national curriculum is currently still a draft but when implemented it will automatically be at the national level. The experience of the Maldives can also be replicated in other countries where strong political backing exists for the integration of climate change education into the education system.
