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From comprehension to action: teachers and students in Kyrgyzstan confidently implement Education for Sustainable Development
© UNESCO

“We must act! Act and protect our nature! " calls on one of the schoolgirls of the pilot schools which tested online materials within the framework of the UNESCO project on the Development of online curriculum for mainstreaming cross-cutting competencies for sustainable development in Kyrgyzstan.

 

And this is exactly what the learning materials for 21st century skills development are aimed at, when we not only know about the challenges of our times, are able to empathize, but also take an active position and do something to prevent or solve pressing problems of our society locally and globally.


45 teachers from 15 pilot schools were trained by a team of national trainers on the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in 2020 and were able to conduct 124 lessons with their 5-6 graders during the first half of the 2020-2021 academic year. And this is only part of the achievements of the joint hard work of the team, presented by the Agency for Quality Assurance in Education "EdNet" during the wrap-up meeting on the project "Development of online curriculum for mainstreaming cross-cutting competencies for sustainable development in Kyrgyzstan" on March 17, 2021 at the Garden Hotel in Bishkek.


The wrap-up meeting was opened with welcoming remarks by the Deputy Minister of Education and Science - Ms. Nadira Syntashevna Dzhusupbekova, Director of the UNESCO Cluster Office for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (UNESCO Almaty) Ms. Krista Pikkat and H.E. Mr Heiti Mäemees, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Turkmenistan. The participants noted the importance of the project not only for equipping students with the 21st century skills that are critical for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, but also the importance of disseminating the project experience and its materials throughout the country in preparation for PISA-2025. The beneficiaries of the project -trainers, teachers and school directors- confirmed the uniqueness and usefulness of the training materials and expressed their hope for the further systematic use of online modules in schools of the republic.


The meeting provided an opportunity to present the results of more than two years of work both on the part of the organizers, trainers and experts of the project, but also from the perspective of teachers and students. It was especially gratifying to see the heads of schools from Naryn, Osh, Chui oblast and Bishkek in person and present certificates for the advanced training course in ESD, “I Promote ESD2030” badges to all teachers and students and laptops for 6 teachers, who won the competition for the best practices in ESD!


Another important result of the project was the professional teacher training course that was developed specifically for the Republican Institute for Teacher Training. This will be used to train teachers on the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) throughout the country.


Background: The project "Development of online curriculum for mainstreaming cross-cutting competencies for sustainable development in Kyrgyzstan" has been implemented by UNESCO Almaty since 2019 with the financial support of Estonia in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic. The first phase of the project (2019) was implemented jointly with the Center for Social Integration Policy. The second phase of the project (2020-2021) was implemented by the Agency for Quality Assurance in Education "EdNet". In addition, the key partners of the project were the Republican Teacher Training Institute under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (India), the Laboratory for Innovation Projects (Belarus), PF "Mondo" (Estonia), as well as experts from Lithuania and Russia.


Following themes were covered with online modules developed:

• Demography and Migration
• Healthy lifestyle
• Global Citizenship
• Media and Information Literacy
• Ecology

 

URL:

http://en.unesco.kz/from-comprehension-to-action-teachers-and-students-in-kyrgyzstan-confidently-implement