KATHMANDU: Minister for Education and Sports, Sasmit Pokharel, has mentioned that a process has been put forward to include climate education in school-level curriculum.
Participating in a group discussion of the high-level ministerial inauguration session on ‘Antalya Protocol for Action: Children, Youths and Teachers in Heart of Greening Education’ under COP-31 organised in Antalya of Turkiye on Sunday, Minister Pokharel shared that Nepal has been preparing long-term foundation for climate adaptation through its education system.
On the occasion, Minister Pokharel presented an analysis on double impacts of climate crisis on education sector, according to Minister Pokharel’s Secretariat.
He argued that in one hand teaching learning activities are being disrupted in Himalayan region due to glacier outburst, landslide in hilly areas and flood and extreme heat wave in Tarai areas. On other hand, physical infrastructures constructed without assessing disaster risk in the past, are become unsafe.
Presenting an example that school buildings along with settlements were damaged within few seconds when water level in Nepal’s rivers surged to very high level few months ago, he pointed out that infrastructure development based on assessment of these factors has become indispensable.
Minister Pokharel shared that based on the lesson learned from successful pilot project implemented in 90 schools of Kathmandu metropolis, a detail study is underway regarding physical structures, disaster risk and availability of at least 60 per cent open space as per National Building Code of around 27,000 community schools across the country.
A master plan going to be formulated after the study would construct safe schools as well as make sustainable arrangement of state’s resources, he underlined.
The Education Minister emphasized that global community must be united through educational and scientific cooperation rising above ideological divisions as no civilization in the world remain unaffected from long-term impacts of climate change, added Minister Pokharel’s Secretariat.
