KUANTAN: The newly-launched Pahang Greening Education Partnership (GEP) roadmap aims to empower the younger generation with the necessary knowledge, skills and values required to address the pressing environmental issues through education.
Pahang Regent Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah said the Pahang GEP 2023-2030 roadmap, which will help each and every student acquire necessary information related to the climate change agenda, will consist of several pillars.
"First, the greening of schools whereby at least 50 percent of education institutions across Pahang are recognised as green schools or institutions through the Eco-Schools and Eco-Campus programmes.
"Secondly, green learning where all schools involved in the Eco School Programme (ESP) will implement the climate change education integration within our national curriculum, and all higher education institutions in the Eco-Campus programme offer recognised sustainable development management courses.
"Thirdly under the greening capacity, school principals or headmasters along with at least two teachers from each school in Pahang will participate in a climate change education course.
"Lastly, under greening communities, schools in Felda settlements which participate in the Eco-Schools programme will become education centres for sustainable community development," he said in his speech at the Pahang ESP launching ceremony at SK Tunku Azizah in Indera Mahkota here today.
He said the GEP, an initiative by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), aims to deliver strong, coordinated and comprehensive action that will prepare every learner to acquire the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to tackle climate change and to promote sustainable development.
The Regent who is the royal patron of Eco-Schools Malaysia, described the programme organised by Green Growth Asia Foundation with cooperation from the Pahang government and state education department, as a historical moment.
"I had previously decreed that to face the current climate challenges, each one of us has a responsibility to play and no one is a bystander. Therefore, in order to translate my aspirations into reality, the Pahang ESP has been introduced.
"The ESP is the world's most extensive Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Programme, with a network covering 95 countries, involving over 10 million students and one million teachers. The programme is vital in achieving the goals of the GEP by 2030.
"The ESP is the ideal platform to foster exemplary values, raise awareness and recognition of current environmental issues through project-based learning. The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concept, which I had decreed all these years, is also being executed through the ESP," he said.
The Regent said it is everyone's responsibility to preserve the environment through simple measures including saving water and electricity, recycling, reducing waste and avoiding wasting food.
"The young generation should know that Pahang produces 1,300 tonnes of rubbish daily and our landfills are running out of space. The youngsters will be our hope to promote the culture of recycling so that our environment will always remain sustainable," he said.
Meanwhile, Tengku Hassanal called upon the state and government agencies to support the ESP and hoped that private firms, government-linked companies, international organisations, foundations and other bodies will contribute and share their expertise.
"Let's promote the ESP as part of the corporate social responsibility and ensure the programmes reaches to every corner of the state," he said.
Meanwhile, Tengku Puteri Raja Tengku Puteri Ilyana Al-Sultan Abdullah, who is the royal patron of Eco-Schools Pahang, described the ESP as a long-term solution for numerous environmental challenges centred around youth participation and empowerment.
"This environmental education programme was thoughtfully structured to realise the aspirations of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals," she said.
Also present was Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail and Pahang Agriculture, Agro-based Industry, Biotechnology and Education committee chairman Datuk Seri Ir Mohd Soffi Abd Razak.