USAID involves Children in Environmental Education
USAID Serbia and Montenegro - Green Schools' Students
In Serbia's CRDA Communities Protect Nature
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| Kids show off their
green school educational materials. |
The Green Schools Program is a comprehensive educational
initiative focusing on energy efficiency in schools. In Serbia,
the Green Schools Program, sponsored by USAID's implementing
partners CHF International and the Alliance to Save Energy,
has gathered educational institutions in a multi-ethnic and
bilingual initiative that introduces energy education, environmental
education and conservation into the school curriculum. Thanks
to this program, Serbian and Albanian teachers in Southern
Serbia for the first time have come together to teach the
same class and jointly work to improve energy efficiency.
The program is building bridges between these ethnic groups
while addressing an energy shortage problem.
“The Program has full support from our Ministry as
it backs the Government's initiative to overcome energy shortages
and environmental problems. The great interest of teachers
and students significantly contributed to the successes of
the Green Schools,” stressed Gasa Knezevic, Minister
of Education and Sport.
The Green Schools program mobilized new resources for energy
efficiency and environmental protect: youth and schools are
producing a positive impact on household budgets, energy
systems and the environment, while introducing new teaching
tools and concepts that encourages team work and the active
participation of students in the educational process. The
Green Schools program effectively encourages children to
change their behavior at school and engage parents and the
communities in energy efficiency actions and in protecting
their environment. “Green School materials introduce
the concept of active teaching targeted at students and teachers,
yet it also indirectly raises the interest and participation
of parents in this teaching process,” states Lidija
Miskeljin, Advisor of the Ministry of Education.
Despite the Program’s small budget, its impact is
significant, including theater plays, ecological tea parties,
competitions and performances that illustrate the enthusiasm
of students and their teachers to improve their community
and living conditions.
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| Children from Raznaj
educate community on environmental protection through
a series of plays. |
In Razanj, a small municipality in Southern Serbia, students
participating in the program prepared a series of plays about
energy efficiency and environmental protection that have
compelled community members to conserve energy and refrain
from actions that can harm their environment. The Green School
students in Raznaj created and distributed posters promoting
their performance, which attracted students, teachers and
parents from all neighboring villages in the area. The event,
held in the Cultural Center in Razanj on March 28, 2003,
highlighted the effects of dangerous pollutants and the benefits
of renewable and non-renewable energy sources as well as
their application in everyday life. The plays illustrate
how the excessive use of energy leads to resource depletion
and can have devastating effects on nature.
The enthusiasm of the students, teachers, school personnel,
and Razanj community members in this education process has
made a long-lasting impression on this small community. Most
importantly, it has created a stronger bond between the school
faculty and the parents, and encouraged them to work together
on environmental and other issues.
Last year, a joint expert commission made up of the Ministry
of Education, the Ministry of the Environment, UNICEF, the
Fund for Open Society and the University of Belgrade decided
to incorporate this program into the official school curriculum.
Today, any first to fourth grade teacher in Serbia may choose
to teach the “Green Schools” class in addition
to their core classes.
The Greens Schools program under USAID’s Community
Revitalization through Democratic Action program will include
10,000 pupils and 800 teachers in South East Serbia by
the end of the 2002-03 school year. In addition, in 2001,
100,000 pupils in 100 schools received workbooks, posters,
leaflets, and other materials on energy efficiency under
the USAID’s Alliance to Save Energy project. The
program has been a catalyst for community action and decision-making
CRDA is a $200 million, five-year, civil society program
(launched in the summer 2001) that uses community development
activities to build trust between different ethnic and religious
groups, to demonstrate the value of citizen participation,
to support grass roots democratic action and to bring immediate
improvement in people’s living conditions. The program
has been a catalyst for community action and is engaging
the citizens of these communities in a new development and
decision-making process. The changes in attitudes and behavior
taking place signal a decisive break with the past and movement
towards a democratic future.
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