<P><FONT color=#33711E><STRONG>Plenary Session 4: <br>Integrative Approaches to ESD</STRONG></FONT></P>
Rainbow Room, 5th Floor
11:00-12:00
Keynote Address:
The Interdependency between Education and Sustainable Development
Sombath Somphone
The paper explores the inter-relationship and inter-dependency between education and sustainable development. Education and development are mutually reinforcing; leading to supporting sustainable livelihoods for people and sustainable and stable societies. A sustainable development model promotes a balance between: environmental harmony, cultural diversity, spiritual well-being, and economic stability. Putting greater emphasis on one of these pillars, at the expense of the others, will often lead to imbalance, undermining of the stability of the others. Education is at the heart of any model of sustainable development. Education needs to be meaningful and the task of educators is to transform the present-day poor schooling into meaningful education. Meaningful education is rooted in real life situations and social and cultural experiences, and should be viewed as a life-long process which involves active engagement and participation of the learners and those around them. Through dynamic pedagogy, meaningful education stimulates innate multiple intelligences among people. The products of a meaningful education system will be people who respect the relationships between fellow human beings and between humans and nature. For such a conceptual shift and transformation to happen and be sustained, it cannot be left in the hands of educators or teachers alone, but should be embraced as a collective effort by all stakeholders, particularly those most significant and relevant to the lives of the learners, such as peer groups, family members, parents, communities, cultural groups, and faith-based organizations. Media will also have a very important role to play to support and promote the transformation of education.
Download the full paper (word, 370kb) and presentation (pdf, 380kb)