Include Climate Change in CBC – Senators

Include Climate Change in CBC – Senators.

If a senatorial proposal is approved, climate education could be included in the Competency-Based Curriculum as soon as next year.

Senators want climate education to be included in the school curriculum to help students better understand climate change.

This, they claim, will also enable individuals to protect the environment and take action by developing community-level solutions.

Nominated Senator Abshiro Halake, who introduced the motion, stated that there is a need for climate education knowledge among teachers and school administrators.

“A very big opportunity exists for us in this country to integrate climate education at this time of transition to the CBC curriculum,” she said.

According to Halake, the climate challenge necessitates global cooperation to address.

“The Senate calls upon the Council of Governors whose responsibility is ECD and basic education, as well as the Education ministry, all the way to higher learning, to integrate climate education in schools,” she said.

According to the senator, relevant stakeholders should provide adequate training to teachers.

“To teach climate education and streamline it into the CBC curriculum for a competent nation that can take climate action,” she said.

Senator Gertrude Musuruve, who was nominated, stated that climate education should begin at the top and work its way down.

This means that implementation should begin with institutions of higher learning, such as universities and TVETs.

“When students go to colleges and universities, they actually surrender to those institutions so that they acquire value,” Musuruve said.

She stated that when students finish their courses, they are returned to society as full-fledged citizens.

The senator stated that it is critical to include key stakeholders in the education sector in order to push this idea forward.

“It is important for Halake to bring in KICD as curriculum developers because they will do an evaluation of the material that goes to the ground” she said.

According to Musuruve, there is also a need to bring in universities and colleges to intentionally have a unit or two on climate change.

Climate change and health — Include Climate Change in CBC – Senators

Climate education, like communication skills and HIV/AIDS, will become a common unit if this is implemented.

Musuruve, on the other hand, disagreed with Halake’s plan to include the CoG.

She stated that the COG’s mandate is limited to the ECD level. The Education Ministry is in charge of everything from primary school to university.

Senator Irungu Kang’ata of Murang’a seconded the motion but expressed reservations, stating that climate change is not an African problem.

He claims that the people who have caused climate change, the westerners, are better suited to solve the problem.

“I will start by expressing my reservation to the entire climate change advocacy. About 80 per cent of people who cause climate change are not in the global south,” Kangata said.

Climate change, according to the senator, is a problem in the global north, which includes Europe, America, and China.

“Therefore, the carbon footprint of Africans is almost zero. Ideally, the people who should be explaining to us why they have caused the climate to change are the Europeans, Japanese, Chinese and not Africans,” Kangata said.

Halake, on the other hand, chastised Kangata for misleading Kenyans into believing that climate change is not an African issue.