ECO SCHOOLS

The Eco-schools programme was developed by the Foundation of Environmental Education (FEE) in response to some of the needs identified at the Earth Summit of 1992. It aims to enhance pupil participation in decision making, planning, and activities to implement local agenda 21 in the school community.

The Eco-Schools programme aims at achieving sustainable environmental management at the local level through schools. Using schools as spring-boards for reaching communities, the programme offers a flexible way of supporting environmental education processes at school level through integrating development experiences with classroom studies and applying certain principles and guidelines to the day-to-day running of schools. In this way the Eco-Schools programme assists in solving real existing environmental problems while planning in advance to prevent future advent of adverse environmental impacts.

The overall program is coordinated through a common framework at the international level, but member nations have flexibility to tailor the programs to their needs.

Underpinning the FEE international framework are the principles of Agenda 21, including the need for environmental awareness and improved students’ skills for active participation and decision-making. The three main themes for schools are ‘waste, water and energy’ . But due to the flexibility of the program, countries have since embraced other themes such as health, agriculture, biodiversity, disaster preparedness, as well as poverty and entrepreneurship as is the case with Eco-Schools-Kenya.

In the Eco-Schools program, schools implement activities as per set criteria and standards. Schools which satisfactorily implement the set activities are then declared Eco-schools and are awarded the Eco-Schools flag as a symbol of achievement. An Eco-school is a school that has developed and adapted an environmental policy to guide its activities; hence qualifies to be referred to as an ‘environmental friendly school.

The concept of Eco-schools derives from the notion of putting the environment at the center of learning in the school. This entails ensuring that environmental concerns/issues form part of the curriculum and the day-to-day running of the school.

At school level, the activities involve establishment of eco-school committees, school environmental audits, developing of school action plans and eco-code, monitoring and evaluation of activities, teaching from the local environment, informing and involving the school and the wider community. Further, the Eco-schools strategy is a democratic and participatory programme that provides an excellent opportunity for learners to experience active citizenship in the school, and has benefits such as: increased environmental awareness, cleaner and aesthetic environments, income generation, learner empowerment to actively resolve local environmental problems, school-community co-operation, partnerships and networks.

A number of benefits can arise from implementing the Eco-schools strategy, both to schools and the wider community. These include the following; The school environmental policy provides a framework for learning about the key issues of the environment, developing positive attitudes and commitment to the environment, active participation in resolving environmental problems, greening and managing the schools resources and setting examples of best environmental practices.