BARAMULLA: A three-day workshop on “Sustainability in schools and SDG 4.7” organised by the Pune-based Bharati Vidyapeeth deemed University, Institute of Environment Education and Research (BVIEER), in collaboration with ESD Expert Net, India, and Engagement Global concluded at the historic Golf Club in the picturesque Gulmarg meadow here today.
The School Leadership Academy (SLA) of the J&K State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) partnered with BVIEER to organise the event.
Scores of principals, teacher educators, resource persons from various schools across the J&K UT besides academic officers from both the SCERTs of Jammu and Kashmir participated in the event.
Giving details of the programme, Prof Shamita Kumar, said the United Nations established 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in September 2015 that demand urgent action from all nations, including India.
“Of these 17 SDGs, Goal 4 focuses on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting opportunities for lifelong learning for everyone,” Prof Shamita said. “The purpose of SDG 4.7 is to provide learners with the information and skills necessary to realise all of the SDGs,” she added.
The earliest date for achieving these objectives, she said, has been established as the year 2030.
Prof. Shamita stated that the interactive SDG model has prepared the path for easy implementation, making it result-oriented, as opposed to the top-down method used in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of 2015, in which the listed goals were not completely achieved by the member nations.
Niti Aayog—the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, she added has been comprehensively documenting and ranking the progress made by States and Union Territories towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Prof Shamita said the ESD Expert Net combines experts from different educational fields into a global partnership.
“ESD Expert Net India is a consortium of professionals drawn from government, academia and civil society from four nations, namely Germany, India, South Africa, and Mexico, where the goal was to orient educators to environmentalize textbooks,” she said. “Through its functionaries in the instance of the J&K UT, the SCERT— we collaborate closely with state and union territory governments.”
Samruddi Patwardhan, programme officer, BVIEER, supported Prof. Shamita through her digital presentations, YouTube documentaries and in-class activities, assisting the participants in understanding the subtleties of the SDGs.
