Ministry Urged To Incorporate Climate Change Studies Into CBC
The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance has urged Education CS George Magoha to incorporate climate change practical lessons into the competency-based curriculum.
Learners, according to advocates, need to be taught modern ways to combat climate change.
According to the alliance, the current educational system is the best way to transfer knowledge and skills to students.
In a statement, the executive director, Mithika Mwenda, urged the Education Ministry to incorporate Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change into the curriculum.
It aims to mitigate the effects of climate change by empowering society to be a part of the solution.
According to the UN, African countries are already struggling to adapt to the reality of climate change.
In September of last year, the Save the Children organization released a study that found Kenyan children born in the previous year will face 4.6 times more droughts than their grandparents.
It stated that some children may be affected by multiple disasters at the same time or in quick succession, such as drought, floods, and fires, exacerbating the effects.
“Yet, action towards mainstreaming climate change into education are still moving at a slow pace,” Mithika said. “Curriculum developers and implementers must coordinate efforts towards having climate change in the education curricula.“
He stated that as Africa’s largest coalition of civil societies fighting for climate justice, they will push for climate change studies in schools.
According to Mithika, the Kenyan education system has lagged in imparting the skills, attitudes, values, and behaviors required for climate action at the individual and societal levels.
Mithika, on the other hand, claims that African universities are fully integrating climate change.
Pacja, he said, has collaborated with Kenyatta University to launch the Nairobi Summer School on Climate Justice. There are plans to expand this collaboration to other African universities as well.
The Kenya National Climate Change Action Plan makes no mention of including global warming studies in the curriculum.
According to the plan, climate change has a significant negative impact on the Kenyan economy.
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The economic cost of floods and droughts is estimated to create a long-term fiscal liability equal to 2%-2.8 % of GDP each year.
Floods, in particular, are estimated to cost about 5.5 per cent of GDP every seven years, while droughts cost about 8% of GDP every five years.
Ministry Urged To Incorporate Climate Change Studies Into CBC
