Italy will become the first country in the world to make sustainability and climate crisis compulsory subjects for school children starting from coming year. Starting September 2020, public schools in Italy will have to incorporate 33 hours of climate-related lessons into their annual curriculum.
State schools will begin incorporating the UN's 2030 agenda for sustainable development into as many subjects as possible. Italy's Education Minister, Lorenzo Fioramonti, also said other subjects like geography, mathematics and physics will be taught from the perspective of sustainability. "There will be more attention to climate change when teaching those traditional subjects," he said. "The idea is that the citizens of the future need to be ready for the climate emergency."
The Ministry of Italy is working to put climate science and sustainability at the centre of its national education model hence, creating an example for other countries to help the young individuals to explore the climate change issues, engage in problem solving and take action to improve environment. Developing deeper understanding will skill them to make informed and responsible decisions.
Indeed, school education is considered as the most vital part of a child's development. It builds the foundation of child's future. With the climate change turning into climate crisis, the rest of the world should also understand and make ways to put an effort to place environment and society at the core of everything we learn in school.
Under Smart Campus Cloud Network (SCCN), TERRE is actively working in awareness and skill building of youth on environment, climate change and sustainability. It also conducts online quiz competition 'TERRE Olympiad' on environment related issues annually for schools and colleges throughout India, supported by the Government of India.
Reference:
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/italy-climate-change
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/world/europe/italy-schools-climate-change.html
https://www.livekindly.co/italy-climate-change-education/