Resource development for primary schools on Climate change and environment

Resource development for primary schools on climate change and environment The writing of this paper is an initial step to provide the education specialist with basic background information for the development of a resource book on garbage, climate change and biodiversity.

REPORT TO GTZ KIEN GIANG BIOSPHERE RESERVE PROJECT Resource development for primary schools on climate change and environment Thuy, 2008 by Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy 22 October 2008 A – BACKGROUND INFORMATION GTZ together with Kien Giang Provincial People’s Committee have been implementing the project “Conservation and Development of the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve” (Phase I) funded by AusAID The overall objective of the project is to utilise the natural resources of Kien Giang province in a sustainable way with effective management of the projected areas Development and implementation of awareness programs on the importance of climate change, biodiversity and garbage issues with different targeted groups is one of key activities for the project The Project Output – Environmental awareness raising campaigns jointly implemented with the Soc Trang project is one of the components for the project to achieve its overall objective To Output 4, the development of education resources on climate change, biodiversity and garbage is considered as a sustainable approach It is designed as an assignment for an international education specialist who will be in Kien Giang in November 2008 and January to March 2009 The targeted groups will be primary school children of Rach Gia city and rural and Khmer communes of project four coastal districts, U Minh Thuong National Park, Phu Quoc National Park’s Buffer Zone The writing of this paper is an initial step to provide the education specialist with basic background information for the development of a resource book on garbage, climate change and biodiversity The information includes: References of global approaches for Education for Sustainable Development (20052014) Laws on environmental protection, instructions for the implementation of local education by the Vietnamese Government and the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) To what extent children have been learning about garbage, climate change and biodiversity with the implementation of the national primary curriculum at primary schools in Rach Gia city, Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh districts This information will assist the specialist to develop ideas of how to integrate a resource book content into the current teaching and learning of these subjects The current situation of garbage disposal at the primary schools of four communes in Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh districts The information of the communes Recommendations for a resource book design B – REFERENCES OF LAWS, DECISIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS I – THE UNITED NATIONS DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (2005 – 2014) The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2002 Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) allows to have the integration of the principles of sustainable development into a multitude of different learning situations The implementation of ESD provides children with a new vision that helps them to understand the world in which they live, to address the complexity and interconnectedness of problems, poverty, deforestation, waste consumption, environmental degradation, population growth, health etc… ESD applies a holistic and interdisciplinary approaches to empower children with knowledge and skills for a sustainable future and changes in values, behaviors, lifestyles and to make decisions and acts in culturally appropriate and locally relevant ways II - THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT “Law on Environmental Protection” by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, dated 10 January 1994 addresses the Environmental Protection is seen as one of important responsibilities for any individual Vietnamese people in accordance with the following articles ƒ Article - “All organisations and individuals shall have responsibilities to protect the environment, observe the environmental protection legislation,, have the fight and obligation to detect and denounce any act in breach of the environmental protection legislation.” ƒ Article 12 - “Organisations and individuals shall have the responsibility to protect all varieties of species of wild plants and animals, maintain biodiversity and protect forests, seas and all ecosystems.” ƒ Articles 15 - “Organisations and individuals must protect the water sources, water supply and drainage systems, vegetation, sanitation facilities and observe the regulation on public hygiene in cities, tourist centers and production areas.” The Law’s Article 37 emphasizes the important role of training, educating, propagandizing and disseminating knowledge and legislation in the environmental protection Especially, the Law highlights the cooperation with other foreign institutions on the environmental protection as the following article ƒ Article 46 - “The Government of Vietnam adopts priority towards countries, international organisations, foreign organisations and individuals with respect to environmental manpower training in Vietnam.” Notes: The Law was revised and endorsed by National Assembly at its XI Term on the 19 November 2005 Vietnam’s National Environment Protection Strategy 2001 – 2010 signed several multilateral environmental conventions and other national action plans for the protection of biodiversity, wetlands and the environment Decision No 20/2006/QD-TTg on “Development of education, training and vocational education in the Mekong Delta to 2010”, dated 20 January 2006 Regarding the new curriculum and teaching and learning methodologies, the Decision addresses it is important to consider life experiences and conditions of children in the Mekong Delta for the development of a flexible school-year program and teaching and learning methodologies For the development of resource books on teaching and learning of local knowledge, the Decision also indicates the curriculum textbooks are basic background for the local resource/guidelines development They need strongly relating to children’s life experiences and local economic and social conditions III – THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING (MoET) Decision No 4354/BGDDT-GDTH on “Environmental Education” by MoET, dated 19 May 2008 Decision No 896/BGDT-GDTH on “Instructions for the adjustment of the teaching and learning at primary schools” by MoET , dated 13 February 2006 identifies that teachers are not allowed to bring in content that are not in the textbooks and the curriculum as it will overload children’s learning However, teachers are allowed to use reference books in order to develop good and meaningful lesson plans whose content is connected to children’s local knowledge According to the decision, each school also has a responsibility or flexibility for the development of specific lesson content, teaching methodologies, content quantity and lesson time Decision No 5982/BGDDT-GDTH on “Instructions for the teaching and learning of local knowledge at primary schools” by MoET, dated 07 July 2008, identifies ƒ If teaching the subject of Geography whose content is related to local conditions in terms of biodiversity, topography…, teachers must give children opportunities to collect information available at where they are living and to develop a knowledge of what are locally surrounding them Number of periods per year for the teaching and learning local geography is periods per year for grade five For grade four, the local content will be taught in the integration with the national curriculum ƒ The environmental education is regarded as one of the key content of the subject of Ethics Permission to design resources on the environment and the environmental protection is given by the Decision Schools have at least periods per year for the teaching and learning of the environment ƒ The development of teaching/learning resources for the local use should meet scientific, realistic and successive standards They can be used as references for teachers or use officially for preparations of lesson plans, tests and assignments Instructions No 40/2008/CT-BGDĐT and Plan No 307/KH–BGDĐT by MoET, dated 22 July 2008 aim to give a concept of child-friendly school and active learning implementation Those documents have not given specific instructions of how to make a school become more friendly to children and how to use active learning with children yet However it is a basic background to bring in activities and games to encourage children’s active participation into the design of the resource book Decision No 51/2007/QD-BGDDT on “Regulations for the primary school” by MoET, dated 31 August 2007 highlights the textbooks are used officially in the teaching and learning The school has responsibility to equip teachers with reference resources and to encourage them to use those reference resources for lesson plans to ensure a high quality of teaching and learning C – THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM From grades one to five with the subjects of socio-natural and science, children develop a general knowledge of the living organisms, their ecosystems, the energy, the environment and impacts of human’s activities on the environment Grade One At grade one, children start to learn about the environmental surrounding them including their home, the community and schools Children also develop a basic knowledge of animals, plants and ecosystem of those living things Grade Two Children develop further an awareness of the community environment They know about benefits of keeping the house and community clean Their knowledge of community concept at this level is expanded from home to schools, neighbors, farms, gardens etc… Children continue to learn about which activities to keep schools clean Children start to develop a basic knowledge of botany, animals, aquatic life, the solar system Grade Three Carbon dioxide (CO2) is introduced to children in a lesson of the respiratory system (human’s body) They learn what the polluted air is and its impact on the health especially the respiratory system The concept of the environment is expanded more in this grade Different human activities (industry, business, agriculture, information…) are introduced in connection to the environment of urban and rural areas Especially, children learn about garbage/waste issues and their impacts on people’s health Information of garbage is given in details including garbage management, public awareness of garbage, sewage management, water treatment and sanitation practices Children continues to study botany, animals, aquatic life and the solar system in more details The topic of the solar system provides children knowledge of how the sun benefits life of living things and human beings In particular, how human beings use the sun for their activities Application question (Bloom taxonomy) is also used for grade three children with the topic, for example “What has your family been doing to utilise the sun light and temperature?” Grade Four Children learn a basic concept of the water, the water circle and the relationship between the water and living things and the human To further development their knowledge of the water, clarification of polluted water and clean water is also taught Especially, how water is polluted by human activities is clearly explained Why the water is polluted, according to the textbook are poor garbage management, industrial waste, fertilizers, smoke and oil Children study impacts of polluted water on human’s health and what can to protect and to save the water They are also required to develop posters to raise people’s awareness of the water and their actions to keep the water clean The topic of the air is given to develop children’s concept of the air, oxygen, nitro and carbon dioxide The quality of clean air and how the air is polluted are introduced Children are required to make lists of what they can to protect the air from the pollution They develop their awareness of activities like planting trees, well managing the garbage and reducing the carbon dioxide Grade Five The effects of climate change on the weather patterns and human’s life are introduced in more details to children They learn about the energy, the environment and natural resources Through these lessons, children recognise how human’s activities including deforestation, natural resource exploitation, population have been making impacts on the environment With the topic of energy, children learn about the power generated from different resources including the sun, the wind, the water, biogas, oil and coal They know benefits of using different kinds of energy Children develop an awareness of why people need to save the electricity They know why deforestation activities to make coal have caused floods and landslides Children learn carbon dioxide is harmful to the environment and there should be ways to manage wisely the industrial waste and smoke Clean energy resources are emphasized as important for the environmental protection Children continue to consolidate knowledge of ecosystems that they have learned in grades one to four They learn the important roles of natural resources to human beings They know why the poor exploitation of those resources and pollution make impacts on human’s life Children develop an awareness of why oil exploitation and industrial waste are polluting the air and the water The topic of land use draws children’s attention of why people use land and reasons for their different land use purposes The topic also includes issues of using chemicals, fertilizers resulting in the degradation of the soil quality The poor ways of waste/garbage disposal are said harmful to the soil What should to protect the environment is quite interesting with information of environmental protection law, policies Some activities for the environmental protection are introduced to children like planting trees, growing terraced fields and good waste treatment From the information above, it could be said that with the national curriculum for science and socio-natural subjects, topics of climate change, biodiversity, garbage issues are already introduced to children of grades three to five Thus, there will be opportunities for the design of a teacher resource book that develop further children’s awareness of the topics that should also develop their abilities for practical implementation There will be also opportunities for design of activities to encourage children’s language and mathematic development through participating in problem-solving activities and games D – SCHOOL’S INFORMATION The information was collected from the visits to six primary schools of Rach Gia city, Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh districts (See Appendix – School visit information, October 2008) Garbage disposal Most of the main schools were green and clean Those schools met the evaluation criteria for the title of “The Green, Clean, Beautiful School” Classrooms had plants on the walls and windows Basic sanitation facilities for children and teachers were available at the main schools An awareness of how to keep the school clean was strongly developed in some schools having the title of “the National Standard School” Some schools applied the classification of “Inorganic garbage” and “Organic garbage” with children Hong Bang school in Rach Gia city was seen as a good model for the garbage classification and the implementation of recycling, renewing and reusing old materials (toys) with children However, most schools in the districts disposed garbage without classification The practice of garbage burning outdoor was popular Recycling, reusing and renewing garbage were not applied in most schools The schools in districts of Hon Dat and Kien Luong districts were quite green and clean while other schools of An Minh and An Bien were not In those schools garbage disposal practice was not well done Most classrooms were covered with dust and garbage was all over the floor In the school of An Minh district, a location of garbage disposal was found next by the food stall Resources or materials on garbage disposal management available at the schools were list of 11 and 15 evaluation criteria for “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” by DoET ( Appendix & “11 Evaluation Criteria for the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” & “15 Evaluation Criteria for the Green, Clean, Beautiful School”) Some schools had posters, slogans and children’s drawings on activities to keep the school clean Those posters, slogans and drawings were not well used See Appendix “School Information” for further information Climate change and biodiversity Most of the schools did not have resources on climate change and biodiversity The concept of climate change and biodiversity was new to school senior staff Children of grades and could develop their knowledge of climate change, the impact of CO2 emission, biodiversity when learning science, socio-natural subjects When the national curriculum allowed teachers to have 15% of the flexibility for the teaching of local references, children had a chance to learn about the local biodiversity including the national parks or endangered living things etc…of Kien Giang However it still depends on individual teacher’s lesson plan preparation Active learning implementation With the implementation of the Instructions No 40/2008/CT-BGDĐT by MoET on “Launching the competition to build the child-friendly school and active children”, the school principals and BoET’s officers of Kien Giang understood that “child-friendly school” was a green, clean school Most classrooms had no sign of children working in groups for activities and games Teachers were found sitting at the desks during the lessons Classrooms did not reflect positive learning environment for children There was also no sign of teaching and learning aids being made for lessons E – COMMUNITY’S INFORMATION Poor Khmer people took around 20 to 30% of the population of four communes Tho Son (Hon Dat), Binh An (Kien Luong), Dong Yen (An Bien) and Dong Hoa (An Minh) Most of them made a living by working as labors in rice farms, cement production factories and stone fields The Vietnamese Government have supported poor Khmer households with the 135 Program The air of Tho Son commune (Hon Dat) and Binh An commune (Kien Luong) were polluted by stone exploitation companies and cement production companies (Holcim, Ha Tien II, Con Ga (chicken) and Kien Giang companies) At Dong Yen commune, the canal water was polluted by pesticides and fertilizers The people’s committee of Binh An (Kien Luong), Dong Hoa (An Minh) supported local people to improve their livelihoods with forest planting and protecting programs Local people also participated in meetings on forest protection However, when they could not make a living from the programs, deforestation still happened Binh An commune (Kien Luong) is a location of the well-known islets named “Phu Tu” (Father and Son) Tourism services are booming in this commune Please read Appendix on School Information (pages 17-40) for further information of the communes visited in Hon Dat, Kien Luong, An Bien and An Minh F – RECOMMENDATIONS According to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), the Laws by the Vietnamese Government and Decisions by the Ministry of Education and Training as well as the information collected from the visits, some recommendations for the development of a resource book are given as follows – The development of a resource book on garbage, climate change and biodiversity is highly recommended for primary schools in Kien Giang The resource book will contribute to Vietnam’s efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals to 2015 – Topics of the resource book need to link closely to the national primary curriculum for the subjects of Socio-Natural, Science and Geography – The development of activities and games for the resource book need to take into account that teachers and children at schools of Kien Giang have not been familiar with active learning methodologies – A workshop for teachers on the introduction of the resource book and how to implement activities and games with children is necessary It will also be a good opportunity to receive feedback from teachers before considering to publish it with MoET’s endorsement - The activity for children on renewing and reusing the old toys of Hong Bang Primary School (Rach Gia) could be seen as one of good activities for the resource book - Background information of garbage, climate change and biodiversity should be given in the resource book The information needs to be simple and understandable to children and teachers Garbage – Background information will help teachers and children to raise an awareness of impacts of plastics on the environment, sea creatures, soil quality of Kien Giang Garbage classification, “Recycle, Reuse, Renew” will be key focus For example: PLASTICS * They take up to 100 years to decompose * They comprise up to 90% of floating marine debris, threatening the life of sea plankton, birds, fish and sea plants RECYCLE When ton of paper is recycled, it will save 17 trees 21,000 litres of water 30 kilogram of air from being polluted 23 m3 of landful waste Biodiversity - Background information will help teachers and children to answer questions of “What does biodiversity mean?”, “What are habitats and web of life?” or “Why is biodiversity conservation/development important?” and “what can we to protect local biodiversity?” Information of Kien Giang biodiversity needs to be given as locally factual information Climate change – Background information will help teachers and children to answer questions of “Conditions for climate change?”, “Why does climate change become an important issue to Kien Giang/Vietnam?”, “What can we to reduce impacts of climate change to the coastal districts of Kien Giang?” – The resource book will have references of the posters on the environment developed by the project including suggestions of how to implement activities using the posters with children – The resource book needs to have references of children’s artworks on the environment collected from the primary schools in the project districts or elsewhere – A design of activities and games for the resource book will meet other elements as follows - Options for different learning activities Opportunities for learning participation in pairs, small groups and the whole class Authentic tasks related to children’s real-life experiences Opportunities for children to apply different thinking levels (Bloom taxonomy) Opportunities for children to implement their language and mathematics knowledge/skills For example: Children could develop a graph of garbage locations at the commune as below Graph “Garbage locations in the commune 10 – If possible, a list of other publications that are relevant to the resource book could be developed It will be helpful for teachers for their lesson plan preparation and teacher’s professional development 10 SCHOOL INFORMATION District: Hon Dat Chief of Bureau of Education & Training (BoET): Mr Nguyen Van Bay BoET’s Primary Education Officer: Mr Nguyen Huu Thuan Office phone number: 077 3841014 I – School’s Information School’s name: Hon Soc Primary School The School Principal: Ms Truong Thi Nhu The Vice Principal: Ms Luong Thi Bang Office phone: 077 3785515 Grade Children Teachers Classes 159 135 132 118 112 4 4 Total 656 27 23 Commune: Tho Son Rooms Kinh/girls Khmer/girls Other EM groups 13 340/322 316/166 Notes: - The class completion rate of Khmer children was 95% The school has been applying PEDC’s teacher assistance program and Khmer children had some extra Vietnamese classes However, they still struggled with the learning of the Vietnamese language - Four of 27 teachers were teachers of Arts, Khmer language, English language and Physical subjects - Hon Soc Primary School was the main school Other two satellite schools named Da Che and Dau Lo attached to the main school - The schools had one-shift schooling program - No function rooms were available at the main and satellite schools except for a simple and basic library - The school had sanitation constructions for children and teachers, but no separated rooms for boys and girls Drinking water was not available for children - Children did not pay any fee for their schooling II – Community’s Information Total of population of Tho Son commune was not available at the time of the school visit The ethnic minority of Khmer people took a large number of the commune’s population The Khmer people made their living from farming and stone cutting Most of them were living in a 26 poor condition The commune was supported by the 135 Program of the Vietnamese government With the Program, the local government built houses and some public facilities for poor Khmer locals Right in front of the school was a large stone exploitation field From a distance, it could see a lot of dust from this field coming into the air The road access to the school was badly damaged by trucks carrying the stone from the field Only in one hour, around five or six trucks came in and out of the stone field According to the school’s vice principal, in the dry season, teachers and children often got bad cough As the road was badly damaged, children put themselves at risk of having road accidents when traveling from their home to the school According to the Vice Chief of Hon Dat’s BoET, Ms Giang, there were some cases of pregnancy miscarrying of school teachers because of traveling on that road The stone company’s name is Quang Tuyen Company Stone exploitation field in front of the school A truck carrying stone passing by the school when children are playing in the playground III – Current Practice of Garbage Disposal The implementation of “Recycle, Renew and Reuse” has not applied yet with children Teachers knew how to use old calendars, bottles or cardboards to make teaching and learning aids but children have not learned how to use those materials to make other things The school supplied a good number of bamboo baskets for each classroom In each classroom had a list of “things need to do” to keep the classroom/school clean etc… Children of grades and had responsibilities for garbage collection The garbage was put in a large and open hole and a security will help to burn the garbage when children were not at the school Understanding that using garbage for organic fertiliser was a good practice but the school had no chance to apply the practice It was said that they did not have enough land The school had a list of 11 evaluation standards for “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” issued by DoET Children were reminded about the garbage collection and practices to keep the school clean when they took the flag greeting session on Monday mornings 27 The community contributed labor work to clean up the school when the school prepare a new school year ceremony In general, the community respected the school’s environment except for the stone company located in front of the school III – Current Resources/Teaching Programs on the Garbage, Climate Change and Biodiversity Children’s knowledge of climate change and biodiversity was developed when they studied Socio-Natural subjects in grades 1, and and Science in grade and Specific resources on the garbage, climate change and biodiversity were not available When the national curriculum allowed teachers to have 15% of the flexibility for the teaching of local references, children had a chance to learn about the local biodiversity including the national parks or endangered living things etc…of Kien Giang However it still depends on individual teacher’s lesson plan preparation The school had no pictures of the national parks or animals/birds/plants of Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve There was only one poster on “Protect the environment” supplied by the Ministry of Education and Training in the school library IV- School’s Recommendations 28 SCHOOL INFORMATION District: Kien Luong Name of Chief of Bureau of Education & Training (BoET): Ms Duong Thi Thoa BoET’s Primary Education Officer: Ms Bui Thi Ly Office phone number: 077 3854320 I – School’s Information School’s name: Binh An main primary school† Commune: Binh An The School Principal: Mr Le Thanh Tuan School’s phone number: 077 3854320 Grade Children Teachers Classes 130 103 67 105 81 2 3 Total 487 15 15 Notes Rooms Kinh/girls Khmer/girls Other EM groups 18 419 68 - The table indicates number of children, teachers … at the main school - The school had no functional rooms for children except for a basic library II – Community’s Information The total population of Binh An commune was around 8,586 Information of Khmer population was not available at the school Khmer people made their living from rice farming, doing labor work in cement production and stone exploitation companies Fishing, forest planting and shrimp farming were more popular means for making a living to Kinh people The local government has applied the 327 Program on Forestry Protection at Binh An commune With the program, local people were given small credits to protect the forests in the areas However, as those credits did not help them to make a basic living, deforestation was still happening Four cement production companies were operating in Binh An Commune including Holcim, Ha Tien 2, Con Ga (Chicken), and Kien Giang companies The polluted air discharging from those companies obviously caused lung diseases and health failures of their workers and local people According to Ms Ly, BoET’s Primary Education Officer, Holcim cement company has been complained critically for its polluted air discharging directly into the air During the day time, it was noticed that the company only discharged a small amount of air into the atmosphere In the night, it was the time for local people to witness a large amount of dark† Binh An main primary school has just been rebuilt with a funding from the Japanese government There were other seven satellite schools attached to the main school Most of the satellite schools were in a poor condition One satellite was visited during the trip The principal and two vice-principals were in charge of the main school and seven satellite schools 29 colored air discharging into the air Local people have sent their complaints of Holcim and other cement production companies to local authorities However, there has not been any serious reaction from the local authorities yet Binh An commune is also well-known for its beautiful beaches and many islets Tourism services are developing III – Current Practice of Garbage Disposal The school was still untidy after the construction However, it was clean in classrooms and the playground Plastic baskets were popular containers for children to keep the garbage The school had five large standard bins to keep the garbage for trucks to pick up daily The classification of garbage into “Inorganic” and “Organic” has not been applied yet with children The implementation of “Recycle, Renew, Reuse” has also been unfamiliar to children Binh An main school’s playground It was difficult for the principal and two vice principals to ensure children at seven satellite schools have a clean and healthy learning environment In one satellite school, the playground was clean but at the back of the school had a lot of garbage Wild grasses grew widely along the school’s fence In one classroom, a teacher reused a plastic bottle to grow plant for classroom decoration 30 SCHOOL INFORMATION District: An Bien Name of Chief of Bureau of Education & Training (BoET): Mr Doan Chi Dung Mobile: 0919 355 165 BoET’s Vice Chief: Mr Nguyen Van Thuong I – School’s Information School’s name: Dong Yen I Primary School‡ The School Principal: Mr Tong Ngoc Thi The Vice School Principal: Mr Dinh Thanh Vui School’s phone number: 077 3523034 Grade Children Teachers Classes 53 95 79 59 48 4 4 Total 334 23 23 Commune: Dong Yen Rooms Kinh/girls Khmer 19 280 Other EM groups 54 Notes: - The table includes number of children, teachers … at the main school and three satellite schools - Three of 23 teachers were teachers of Arts, Music and Physical subjects - The main school had a health check room for children and a library but they were both in a bad condition The library was used like a storage to keep learning and teaching equipment - The school had sanitary constructions for children and teachers, with separated rooms for boys and girls - The grade completion rate of Khmer children was 75% Khmer children did not perform well the Vietnamese language at the school - Each year, around - 10 children skipped their classes to follow their parents for harvesting seasons The duration of their absence from the school was one month - The school had already achieved the title of “the National School Standard” in 2005 and met 15 evaluation criteria for “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” since 2007 II – Community’s Information ‡ Dong Yen I Primary school is the main school There are other three satellite schools attached to the main school 31 Khmer people were around 20% of the commune’s population Dong Yen was a poor commune whose households made their livings from rice farming The commune was supported with the 135 Program of the Vietnamese government According to the BoET’s Vice Head and the School Principal, the water source of An Bien district was highly polluted by pesticides and fertilizers Most locals directly discharged the water with pesticides and fertilizers from rice fields into canals Local households disposed the garbage in a hole or burned III – Current Practice of Garbage Disposal It was impressed with the school’s green trees and plants around the playground and inside classrooms Many pots of plants were hang inside the classrooms and staff’s rooms The school also had a garden and a pond Slogans of what needs to for the school’s cleanness were developed to put around the playground Slogan – trees and the school environment School pond The classification of the garbage into inorganic garbage and organic garbage was applied with children at the main and satellite schools The school had bins with labels for two kinds of garbage as above, but they were finally burned all together in a kiln That kiln was badly untidy Kiln for garbage burning at Dong Yen I main school The concept of “Recycle, Renew, Reuse” of materials has not been introduced to children yet 32 Children of grades 3, and of the school were responsible for the garbage collection However, a lot of garbage were found in classrooms and the school’s backyard The garden school was not well looked after The air around the kiln and sanitary areas was bad It was likely seen that the school tried to improve as much as it could for the front view IV – Current Resources/Teaching Programs on the Garbage, Climate Change and Biodiversity The school had many pictures on activities to keep the school clean hanging on the school wall Those pictures were not well taken care Once time the school organised children to draw about activities to protect or to keep the school/community clean Teachers also attended a workshop by BoET, An Bien on the school’s hygiene regulations The monitoring of hygiene practices of children and teachers was applied regularly at the school Resources on the garbage disposal, climate change and biodiversity have not been developed yet either by the school or the BoET Children of grades and could develop a basic knowledge of climate change, the impact of CO2 emission, biodiversity when learning the Science/Socio-Natural subjects References of whether children had learned about Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve Areas were not available at the school V – School’s Recommendations - The development of resource books for teachers and children on the environment protection, climate change and biodiversity should be simple A number of lesson periods for each topic should be up to periods per year For teacher’s book, the content needs to include background information - The resources need to have MoET’s endorsement for publication that will encourage teachers more confident to apply the materials with children - References, pictures are developed to support the resource books - DVDs on Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve areas could be developed for children and teachers to see when using the resource books 33 SCHOOL INFORMATION District: An Bien Name of Chief of Bureau of Education & Training (BoET): Mr Doan Chi Dung Mobile: 0919 355 165 BoET’s Vice Chief: Mr Nguyen Van Thuong I – School’s Information School’s name: Dong Yen II Primary School§ The School Principal: Ms Nguyen Thi Tuyet The Vice School Principal: Mr Ngo Minh Thuong School’s phone number: 077 3523093 Grade Children Teachers Classes 89 106 94 63 72 6 4 6 Total 424 43 43 Rooms Commune: Dong Yen Kinh/girls Khmer/girls Other EM groups 19 374 50/30 N/A Notes: - The table includes number of children, teachers … at the main school and five satellite schools - Two of 43 teachers were teachers of Physical subject The main and satellite schools had was no teacher of Arts, Music, English or Khmer languages - The main school and five satellite school did not have functional rooms except for a very basic library to use as a storage for textbooks and learning aids - The school had sanitary constructions for children and teachers, with separated rooms for boys and girls Drinking water was not available for children - Children did not pay any fee for their schooling - The grade completion rate of Khmer children was 97% Khmer children performed the Vietnamese language much better than their mother tongue, the Khmer language - Each year, around 10 children skipped their classes to follow their parents for harvesting seasons The duration of their absence from the school was around one month Dong Yen II Primary school is the main school There are other five satellite schools attached to the main school Like most of other satellite schools, those five satellite schools were also in a poor condition An average distance from a satellite school to children’s homes is to km An average number of children of a satellite school is 45 § 34 - The school had already achieved 11 evaluation criteria for “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” by DoET since 2005 In the next school year of 2008 – 2009, it will try to pass 15 evaluation criteria that are also for the title “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” by DoET II – Community’s Information Khmer people were around 20% of the commune’s population Dong Yen was a poor commune whose households made their livings from rice farming The commune was supported with the 135 Program of the Vietnamese government According to the BoET’s officer and the school principal, the water source of An Bien district was highly polluted by pesticides and fertilizers Most locals directly discharged the water with pesticides and fertilizers from the fields into canals The local government already allocated budget to support the main school with the construction of new six classrooms III – Current Practice of Garbage Disposal The classification of garbage into inorganic garbage and organic garbage was applied for children Plastic baskets without cover were popularly used for children to collect garbage inside and outside the classrooms The implementation of “Recycle, Renew, Reuse” has not been introduced to children yet Children of grades 3, and of the school were responsible for the garbage collection Garbage burning was the main disposal practice of the school A brick kiln was built to burn garbage at the backyard away from classrooms Kiln for garbage burning It was impressed with the school’s green trees and plants around the playground and inside the classrooms There were many pots of plants inside the classrooms and staff’s rooms reusing plastic bottles However, there were so much garbage in the classrooms and the school’s backyard The school’s garden had mainly wild grasses 35 IV – Current Resources/Teaching Programs on the Garbage, Climate Change and Biodiversity The school had one poster with a caption “Keep the school clean” The poster was not shown to children but it was kept in a storage area The school had the list of 11 standards on how to keep the school green and clean issued by the DoET Last year the school organised a drawing competition to raise children’s awareness of the hygiene practice Children of grades and were selected for the activity The school was looking forward to organize another competition with the theme of “The Green Planet” for children in November, 2009 36 Resources on the environment protection, climate change and biodiversity conservation have not been developed yet either by the school or the BoET Children of grades and could develop a basic knowledge of climate change, the impact of CO2 emission, biodiversity when learning the Science/Socio-Natural subjects References of whether children had learned about Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve Areas were not available at the school V – School’s Recommendations - A model design of a brick kiln for garbage disposal that will give less polluted air - A model design of a water purification to supply the drinking water to children - Reference books and other resources on the garbage, climate change, Kien Giang biosphere reserve areas for teachers and children - A workshop for teachers and school staff to have an understanding of how to use resources with children 37 SCHOOL INFORMATION District: An Minh Name of Chief of Bureau of Education & Training (BoET): Ms Ho Thi Hoa BoET’s Environment Officer: Mr Nguyen Thao Son Office phone number: 077 3884019 I – School’s Information School’s name: Dong Hoa II Primary School** The School Principal: Mr Nguyen Ngoc Thanh School’s phone number: 077 3882091 Grade Total Children Teachers Classes 112 102 90 61 61 426 3 17 3 17 Rooms Commune: Dong Hoa Kinh/girls Khmer 14 416 Other EM groups 10 Notes: - The table includes number of children, teachers, rooms … at the main school and three satellite schools - Three of 23 teachers were teachers of Arts, Music and Physical subjects - The main school had a library that was not well used - The school had good sanitary constructions for children built by CARE in the school year 2003 – 2004 ** Dong Hoa II Primary school is the main school There are other three satellite schools attached to the main school 38 - The grade completion rate of Khmer children was around 95% - The school had already achieved the title of “the Green, Clean, Beautiful School” II – Community’s Information Khmer people took around 5% of the commune’s population Dong Hoa was a poor commune who made their livings from rice and shrimp farming However, the commune was not considered for the 135 Program by the Vietnamese government According to the BoET’s Vice Chief and the School Principal, the water source of An Minh district was less polluted by pesticides and fertilizers The interchange between a rice planting and a shrimp breeding season in a year helped to reduce the concentration of fertilizers discharged from rice fields Local households disposed the garbage in a hole or burned III – Current Practice of Garbage Disposal The classification of the garbage into inorganic garbage and organic garbage was not applied with children at the main and satellite schools The school had plastic baskets for children to collect garbage There was a kiln to burn the garbage, but that kiln was built in the school garden and the food vendor nearby Kiln for garbage burning located at the school garden and food stall, Dong Hoa main school The implementation of “Recycle, Renew, Reuse” of materials has not been introduced to children yet The school had a good number of big trees and plants for the playground and inside the classrooms However, garbage was all over the place and classrooms were not clean 39 IV – Current Resources/Teaching Programs on the garbage disposal, climate change and biodiversity According to the school principal, for the last two years officers from the sub-Department of Natural Resources and Environment coming to the school for a presentation on information of the national parks and endangered animals The Commune’s People Committee also had meetings on forest protection for locals including school principals As An Minh is one of Kien Gang’s important coastal districts, the local authorities issued programs that allowed locals to develop their livelihoods from the coastal forests while protecting them Last year, the children contributed their old books to poor children The school saw it was a good practice, they were planning to have this activity for this year Resources on the environment protection, climate change and biodiversity conservation have not been developed yet either by the school or the BoET Children of grades and could develop a basic knowledge of climate change, the impact of CO2 emission, biodiversity when learning the Science/Socio-Natural subjects References of whether children had learned about Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve Areas were not available at the school V – School’s Recommendations - An integrated curriculum for the teaching and learning of climate change, biodiversity of Kien Giang as well as garbage disposal needs to be developed - It is important for teachers and children develop a background knowledge of Kien Gang’s biosphere reserve areas - A teacher training workshop on how to use resources is necessary for teachers as they need to know how to implement ideas or activities with children 40 ... slogans and drawings were not well used See Appendix “School Information” for further information Climate change and biodiversity Most of the schools did not have resources on climate change and. .. Term on the 19 November 2005 Vietnam’s National Environment Protection Strategy 2001 – 2010 signed several multilateral environmental conventions and other national action plans for the protection... environmental education is regarded as one of the key content of the subject of Ethics Permission to design resources on the environment and the environmental protection is given by the Decision Schools have