Up for the Challenge! Ghana Aims to Educate All School Children About Climate Change
29 May 2017, Accra, Ghana - Sustainable Development Goal No. 13 calls upon all countries to integrate mitigation and adaptation, impact reduction and early warning into school curricula. Ghana is leading the way and has launched a process to include climate change and green economy concepts into the general education system. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Ghana Education Service (GES), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a Core Group with stakeholders from the educations sector was formed. The Group has conducted an audit of the national school curricula and has developed recommendations for further action and a roadmap for implementation.
As a next step a baseline study to assess the current knowledge about climate change among teachers and school children in Ghana is planned. On 29-31 May 2017, a preparatory workshop was held to discuss and develop a survey questionnaire for the study. Mr. Ebenezer Ampa-Sampong, EPA Deputy Executive Director emphasized that the situational analysis would be important to have a clear picture about the current circumstances and to define effective interventions.
In rolling out the curriculum review, Ghana is seeking to learn from other countries that have already advanced the integration of climate change in school education. Initial ideas with colleagues from the Malawi Institute for Education and the National Curriculum Development Centre of Uganda were exchanged during a UN CC:Learn workshop in Addis Ababa in March 2017. A mission to share experiences is planned for July.
The integration of climate change into school curricula is one of the priority actions included in Ghana’s National Climate and Green Economy Learning Strategy which was launched in October last year.
About UN CC:Learn
UN CC:Learn is a partnership of more than 30 multilateral organizations supporting countries to design and implement systematic, recurrent and results-oriented climate change learning. At the global level, the partnership supports knowledge-sharing, promotes the development of common climate change learning materials, and coordinates learning interventions through a collaboration of UN agencies and other partners. At the national level, UN CC:Learn supports countries in developing and implementing national climate change learning strategies. Through its engagement at the national and global levels, UN CC:Learn contributes to the implementation of Article 6 of the UNFCCC on training, education and public awareness-raising, and the 2012-2020 Doha Work Programme. Funding for UN CC:Learn is provided by the Swiss Government and UN partners. The Secretariat for UN CC:Learn is hosted by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Photo 1: What do school children in Ghana know about climate change?
Photo 2: Members of the Core Group at the preparatory workshop for the baseline study.