Afghan Teachers Design Curriculum in Environmental Stewardship for Rural Schools

To celebrate Afghanistan Environment Week (from June 4-10, 2011), Future Generations Afghanistan organized a three-day awareness program in environmental stewardship at three high schools in Khogyani District of Nangarhar Province.

Thirty teachers from rural schools and 30 local farmers participated in the training to learn basic skills to prevent damage to the environment. In the process, teachers designed an environmental stewardship curriculum that will be taught to more than 2,000 students.

The Afghan National Environment Agency dedicated one week in June as Afghanistan's environment week to increase awareness and focus on solutions. In addition to pollution and the harm caused by three decades of conflict, general lack of environmental awareness among communities also threatens local environments.

The aim of Future Generations Afghanistan’s youth-horticultural training programs among three high schools in Khogyani District is to provide youth and community members with a positive environmental experience. Through this project, youth and their communities not only learn horticultural skills and the value of trees for increasing family income, but they learn skills in group planning to manage their horticultural learning centers and gain a deeper appreciation for their local environment. 

The three-day training workshop, with 60 participants representing Afghan teachers and farmers, focused on:

• Basic environmental concepts
• Factors influencing ecosystems
• Pollution in air and water and effects on human health
• Climate change and its effect on life and livelihoods in Afghanistan

The teachers along with Future Generations technical staff, designed a school curricula and training materials on environmental stewardship, which will be taught to more than 2,000 students of three schools in Khogyani. Also, farmers participated in tree planting demonstrations and were encouraged to plant more trees in their villages.