Project helps educational community adapt to climate change

(MissionNewswire) An environmental education project of the Salesian Province of Paraguay has reached 18 schools and more than 11,000 students across the country, after launching in 2021 at five schools. The project promotes environmental awareness and sustainable practices in schools.

The initiative is supported by Engagement Global (Service for Development Initiatives) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. It also has the support of the Ministry of Education and Science, which is responsible for reviewing, checking and verifying the content and certifying its suitability for application in the country’s schools. Cooperation was also established with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development.

In an interview with the newspaper La Nación, María José Llamosas, program coordinator, explained that the project is being developed in close collaboration with educational communities to integrate the curriculum right into school lessons. During the interview, the Pedro Ignacio Morínigo School garden was highlighted as an educational tool to teach about values such as respect for the environment, healthy food, patience, responsibility, friendship and commitment.

Llamosas emphasized that the education focuses on 10 themes, two of which are directly focused on climate change and risk management, with an emphasis on resilience. “We want the educational community to be able to identify these risk factors and know how to deal with them and adapt to climate change.”

Professor María Cristina Snead, teacher at the Don Bosco School in Ypacaraí, noted, “Working with children in environmental education allows us to build a more ecologically aware future. We are already seeing significant changes, both in the students and in their families.”

Salesian missionaries have been working in Paraguay since establishing a church in Asunción in 1896. Paraguay is among the poorest countries in South America. According to UNICEF, almost 23% of its population of 6.5 million people lives in poverty earning less than $1 per day. The gap between the small upper class and the large lower class is extreme and offers virtually no social mobility.

Conditions of poverty drive youth into early labor and a lack of literacy, in addition to a weak educational foundation, compounds the problem. Those in poverty face overcrowding, low quality housing and a lack of access to basic household services. Paraguayans who only graduate from primary school are twice as likely to live in poverty as those who have access to and complete secondary school.

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Sources:

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ANS – Paraguay – New environmental education project involves over 11,000 students

Salesian Missions – Paraguay

UNICEF – Paraguay

World Bank – Paraguay