By Md. Fazlul Haque and Shiuly Mondal from Satkhira
Schools are one of the best places for cultivating environmental awareness early on. The earlier the students learn about the environment, the sooner they will be able to contribute to safeguarding it. Bearing this in mind, with the financial supports from NETZ-Bangladesh, BARCIK has been implementing a project titled ‘strengthening the resilience of the poorest population to the impacts of climate change in Bangladesh (PORIBESH)’ which sensitizes a total of 240 secondary level students through 8 Students forum of Shyamnagar and Asashuni upazila of coastal Satkhira district, the south-western coast of Bangladesh.
As parts of environmental awareness, secondary level students are participating in environmental debates, essays and quiz competitions at their schools. The students received 23 tree saplings as prizes however; they planted 385 saplings at their homesteads and surroundings during the last monsoon 2022. With environmental challenges in coastal areas pooping up faster than expected, students can play a significant role. Through discussions in schools, they are being informed about natural surroundings and understanding how they are depleting, changing and how their actions affected well being of local and possible way they could involve in conservation efforts.
Moreover, in the programme, they are being informed on the impacts of climate change, the causes of vulnerability to climate change and on corresponding long-term adaptation strategies which is specifically tailored to the climate-related challenges by the project personnel. It is observed that, when it comes to raising awareness about environment issues, a good place to start is by including lessons about environment in school curriculums. In view of that, BARCIK conducts advocacy initiatives and meeting with school management committees, teachers and concerned authorities. Therefore, BARCIK has been planning to produce a discussion manual based on the results of the CVCA analysis, enabling teachers in designing regular teaching units on climate-related hazards in the respective institutions.
As many of the pupils are “first generation learners” in their families, BARCIK believes that the sensitisation and activation of the young generation on the topic of climate change and adaptation is essential which will motivate them to become future disaster volunteer and may help to reduce and manage Disaster Risk Reduction at community level.
Finally, being a member of students’ forum will make them insightful and create a valuable difference about attitudes and behavior regarding environment and take actions to protect environment at their level best.
Translated by ABM Touhidul Alam
