School gardens can be linked to Education for Sustainable Development initiatives


Educational institutions have responsibility to remain up to date with the latest educational policies and  guidelines so as to make changes in their practices and come up with the new initiatives and interventions for implementation into their classrooms. However, it has been seen that most institutions get stuck and stay unchanged due to old habits and mental inertia.

Robin Malik states, "Alternative ways to promote wellness are gardens. School gardens not only integrate life skills but they also encourage students to work outdoors with their hands. Teachers can utilize the school garden in project based learning opportunities which not only support research based evidence in many academic subjects but also supports nutrition and physical [Schools need to] jump start and maintain gardens on campus... [and are ] needed to create the environment appropriate for garden initiatives, outline objectives and provide tools to execute." UNESCO too promotes Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and urges institution to make institutional garden and greenery at the tools to create ESD models of learning.

In stead of decorative gardens, the institutions must try food gardens and herbal gardens by developing and implementing skilling modules as  urged by the NEP-2020 and notified by the Central Board of Secondary Education.

 keeping this view, a paper on forest food gardening was presented at an international conference at Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, the abstract of which is given herein as follows.

Title: A Case of School-Based Curriculum Development in Forest Food Gardening as Part of Education for Sustainable Development in  Tune with National Education Policy of 2020

Dr Lalit Kishore* and Subhash Chauhan** 
*Educational Adviser, Som Gurukul, Kurukshetra
**Director, Som Gurukul, Kurukshetra

Email: lalit_culp@rediffmail,com

Abstract

It was in 2015 that 195 nations agreed to United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets in of which education (SDG-4) is one of them which has 10 targets. Consequently, the UNESCO has been urging the global education sector to go for 'Education for Sustainable Development' (ESD) to meet the challenges that  the planet faces due to altered ecosystems threatening survival such as global warming and climate change by implementing projects on ground. India's National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 aims to revamp the education system by aligning it to SDG-4 to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. Further, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked the schools to develop and implement one of 33 modular skilling courses of 50 hours duration at the middle school level. But, most schools are outsourcing the implementation of skilling courses in artificial intelligence, information technology, mass media, virtual reality, digital citizenship, on-line marketing. However, a CBSE-affiliated school in rural Kurukshetra took up the challenge to develop the skilling module on "Forest Food Gardening" to link it to the concepts of sustainability, ecological balance and climate change. The paper will describe the case of curriculum development of the forest food gardening with 15 hours devoted to theory and 35 hours to practical work in the four-layered forest food garden in the light of aim that ESD is meant to 'provide learners of all ages the knowledge, skills, values and agency to address interconnected global challenges including climate change, loss of biodiversity, unsustainable use of resources, and inequality' as envisaged by the UNESCO.

Keywords: Climate change, curriculum development, education for sustainable development, forest food gardening, global warming, National Education Policy-2020, Sustainable Development Goals

Collage of conference scenes






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