PLANT THE SEED CASE FOR SUSTAINABILITY CURRICULUM IN SCHOOLS

Almost 30 years after the first UN general assembly on Sustainable Development, there has not been significant action around the looming climate emergency. Governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders have been slow to integrate new policies and plans and have failed to show measurable and targeted results to address this problem facing humanity.

Today, during the time of the novel coronavirus – society has had to create a ‘new normal’ by self-isolating and practice social distancing. Our global economy has been driven to a halt and unbridled capitalism has frozen. This has had a significant impact on our economy.

The time for creating change in our social, ecological, political, and economic systems is now - and we need to take this opportunity to design a world that is just for people and protects our environment.

“So much of what we learn, at all levels, is irrelevant to an uncertain future we are inheriting – basically our education is out of touch with the future we face” - Learner at a Plant the Seed workshop.

The team behind Plant the Seed, believe education interventions is the first step to dealing with the looming social & ecological crises. Ultimately – we strongly believe preparing our youth with the knowledge and understanding of sustainable development is as fundamental as numeracy and literacy.

We draw on a specific example to show how governments in the past can react in a time of crisis and how we can learn from it. In 1958, under the leadership of the Truman and Kennedy administration, the U.S implemented the ‘National Defense Education Act’ which provided funding across U.S states in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (otherwise known as STEM). This was implemented in all education institutions (from primary to tertiary education).

The U.S implemented this ACT as part of the global “Space Race”. 10 years on – the average age of the team in the control tower on the day of the moon landing was just 28, showing what can happen when there is a targeted investment in education, combined with a compelling vision and can-do attitude from all stakeholders.

With the above, Plant the Seed believes our government can choose new education polices and learning requirements for our future. In the hope that policies change, we have launched our integrated sustainability curriculum (https://access.planttheseed.co.za/ ) and want our customers to know that we have aligned our partner's curriculum (from U.S and U.K) to our national CAPS curriculum – allowing education institutions to carry on with CAPS requirements.

Join our effort to building a sustainable and resilient future and sign up now: https://access.planttheseed.co.za/