Kapil Sibal Talks Education for Sustainability

Editor’s Note: The following was circulated by Dr. Susan Sharma of the Indian Wildlife Club

The talk given by Mr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource & Development on the 29th of July 2009 at Teen Murti House, was really ‘manna’ to an Environmentalist’s ear. The crux of his talk was that ‘Environment Education’ should be at the center of education, all other knowledge can follow. All scientific data and processes are available with Nature.

“Bring science into education; all aspects of science can be learnt from nature. Science taught in correlation with nature is understood best.”

“Education for sustainable development in an era of climate change, calls for a change of mindsets. The need is to reach out to communities and have a dialogue. Teachers within the community will have knowledge at ground level”.

“Teaching of a subject must be holistic. Environmental issues can be effectively linked to say, automobile engineering. Teaching of music can take off from nature….”

“Communicating with nature creates a sense of preservation of nature at the heart of education…”

“The Government’s aim is to connect all villages of India in the next three years. This can lead to leapfrog in education. We must be ready with relevant content in the meantime.”

Heart of all content is nature!

Previously on Delhi Greens:

• Invite: Talk on Green Education, Green Jobs and Teaching Sustainability with Kapil Sibal