Process put forward to include climate education in school curriculum: Minister Pokharel

Kathmandu: Minister for Education and Sports, Sasmit Pokharel, has mentioned that a process has been put forward to include climate education in the school-level curriculum.

Participating in a group discussion at the high-level ministerial inauguration session on ‘Antalya Protocol for Action: Children, Youths and Teachers in Heart of Greening Education’ under COP-31 organised in Antalya, Turkiye on Sunday, Minister Pokharel shared that Nepal has been preparing a long-term foundation for climate adaptation through its education system.

On the occasion, Minister Pokharel presented an analysis on the double impacts of the climate crisis on the education sector, according to Minister Pokharel’s Secretariat. He argued that, on the one hand, teaching and learning activities are being disrupted in the Himalayan region due to glacier outbursts, landslides in hilly areas, floods and extreme heat waves in the Tarai areas.

On the other hand, physical infrastructures constructed without assessing disaster risk in the past have become unsafe. Presenting an example that school buildings along with settlements were damaged within few seconds when water level in Nepal’s rivers surged to very high level few months ago, he pointed out that infrastructure development based on assessment of these factors has become indispensable.

Minister Pokharel shared that, based on the lessons learned from a successful pilot project implemented in 90 schools of Kathmandu metropolis, a detailed study is underway regarding physical structures, disaster risk and availability of at least 60 per cent open space as per National Building Code of around 27,000 community schools across the country.

A master plan is to be formulated after the study to construct safe schools as well as make sustainable arrangements of the state’s resources, he underlined.

The Education Minister emphasised that the global community must be united through educational and scientific cooperation, rising above ideological divisions, as no civilisation in the world remains unaffected by the long-term impacts of climate change, added Minister Pokharel’s Secretariat.

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