Successful workshop in Myanmar/Burma

Both the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry and the Ministry of Education are interested in our work 26.06.2018 - 16:32 | Rebecca Rutz

Environmental protection is to be given more weight in Burmese education. In order to ensure that topics such as waste and sewage management can be introduced and taught in a targeted manner in schools, the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation and the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry have collaborated to produce a ‘trainer guide book’. The Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry is already actively implementing the lesson guidelines, and now the Ministry of Education has also expressed interest in a guide book for state schools.

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High demand for a workshop on the new trainer guide book

Teachers need to be trained in environmental protection to ensure that the topic can be taught sustainably in Myanmar/Burma. To assist in this, the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation has created a «trainer guide book», which provides teachers with guidelines for lessons. These guidelines have met with widespread approval and are already being actively used in convent schools and internally at the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry.

Workshop on collaboration

The cooperation of the Ministry of Education is essential in enabling state schools to benefit from this knowledge as well. Key representatives from the Ministry, as well as Brigit Burkard, Programme Representative for South-East Asia, therefore attended a workshop in Yangon recently.

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Group picture of workshop participants. Centre: Brigit Burkard, Programme Representative for South-East Asia.

The workshop gathered initial inputs for a potential collaboration between the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, the Ministry of Education and the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation. Topics included the development of «clean and green schools», or eco-schools, in general, and updated lesson guidelines as a concrete measure.

Major success for NGO

Obtaining permission to collaborate with state schools is a major challenge for NGOs in Myanmar/Burma. This first step towards collaboration with the Ministry of Education is therefore a significant success for the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation.

«We are delighted that the Ministry of Education actively participated in the workshop and are confident that this will result in a successful collaboration.»

Brigit Burkard – Programme Director for South East Asia
As part of the ASEAN agreement, Myanmar/Burma has committed to giving environmental protection higher priority and therefore to establishing ‘clean and green schools’. These schools teach children how to plant trees, how to fertilise a school garden with the school’s own compost, waste and sewage management, and much more. The Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation has been supporting the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry in this task since 2016 and has a mandate to set up five model schools. Three school projects are already underway.
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The «clean and green schools» teach children how to manage waste, among other issues.