Eco-education needed

By chance, the university president and the vice president for research and extension of the Visayas State University (VSU) in Baybay City caught up with me and my husband while we were winding up a late weekend lunch in a fast-food joint by the beach. Dressed for a stroll, the school officials, I thought, were too early for a weekend holiday, and in an official vehicle at that. But the president told us about their ocular exploration to identify degraded areas in Leyte and Samar for reforestation. Nonchalantly, I asked what funding agency could be behind such a much-awaited action especially in Leyte. “CHEd,” came the answer.

We salute the Commission on Higher Education for choosing a trusted university to implement an important environment project, what with typhoons causing unprecedented devastation, landslides, raging floods, and killing hundreds of people.

It befits CHEd to go beyond funding research proposals of higher education institutions and zonal reviews of ongoing research projects. Reducing the risks of climate change should be a priority concern of our education sector, the very institution that can bring together and mobilize the rural folk right at the community level.

Let us then expect the Department of Education to do its part and start vital and relevant out-of-the-classroom activities for youngsters to make them aware of the urgent need to help protect our environment.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority  should be in the program as well. It should not focus solely on technical training; it should also aim at equipping graduates with functional skills to operate in the world of work. For what price our noble educational endeavors if climate change strikes violently and overwhelms the environment we live in?

Addressing climate change issues requires a synchronized approach, with CHEd at the forefront, coordinating all initiatives with the proper government agencies to encourage the participation of communities, and make all Filipinos aware of their role in reducing, if not eliminating, the risks of climate change.

—ALICE S. GO, Baybay City, 6521 Leyte