Recognizing that it cannot address all the challenges in the education sector on its own, the Department of Education (DepEd) underscored the need for all sectors in the society to work together.
In a statement issued Tuesday, May 25, DepEd stressed the need to raise awareness and action - particularly on on education for sustainable development (ESD).
Last week, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones also highlighted the vital role of stakeholders at the local and global level in raising awareness and action on ESD during the UNESCO World Conference.
“Learning, including education for sustainable development, is a shared responsibility,” Briones said in her message during the conference.
Briones also underscored the need to “integrate planning and to pull resources and ensure that we are able to connect various learning spaces, formal and informal, physical and virtual and in-person and remote that supports social and active learning and provide access to learning resources that enrich learning.”
Promoting ESD, Briones said, is in the DepEd’s priorities as she laid out the department’s efforts in researching, monitoring, and institutionalizing policies and programs for sustainable development.
Briones said that DepEd “recognizes the urgency to deepen our commitment and action to inculcate among our learners the awareness, knowledge, values, and capacity for sustainable development through education and learning.” Given this, Briones explained that DepEd has convened the Education Forum for Inclusive Quality Education or Educ Forum.
“ partners, including civil society organizations, education sector organizations, and foundations coming from the private sector, bilateral agencies, and multilateral organizations, shall ensure that education for sustainable development will be among its key areas of work,” Briones said.
Briones added that DepEd, through the Education Futures Programme, is also collaborating with various stakeholders in creating integrated designs of future learning spaces to cover formal, informal, physical, virtual, and remote spaces - including ESD.
Meanwhile, Briones also noted how the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has widened the DepEd’s perspective and increased community participation regarding learning space and processes despite the distance.
“The disruption of in-school learning, delivery at a large scale, has necessitated that we reach out to households and communities to be active partners in the learning process,” Briones said.
The UNESCO World Conference for Sustainable Development was organized by UNESCO in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany and the German Commission for UNESCO. It was held virtually last May 17 to 19.