The Way Forward for Environmental Education

20 December 2019

Yesterday evening, a group of youths discussed the state of environmental education in Singapore. The meeting was organized by two youth educators: Tina and Rou Ming. Facilitated by Ning Xin, an experienced MOE teacher, NSS Every Singaporean a Naturalist (ESN) educator and Mother-to-be, she shared her experience teaching and grooming students in environmental education in our little \’fireside\’ chat.

After doing a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis, we realized that there is a growing interest in the environment scene among youths. Although a few youths managed to pursue their interests further, there are many who are still interested but unable to find platforms to take their their passion to the next step. These youths are usually graduates from existing environmental programs but unsure where to go next. Hence, mentorship is needed for these \’lost but very passionate\’ youths.

There are many existing environmental programs, workshops and events in Singapore but there has to be more collaboration and unified strategic action. Most Singaporeans have some exposure to the environment programs but it\’s time we take the next step of action and leadership to push for better protection of our environment. We need to change mindsets instead of basic awareness. Grooming the next generation of environmental youth leaders might be the key.

We explored what are the skills needed for these youths to develop, how can we recruit them, how should mentors groom these youths…Unfortunately, three hours of meeting weren\’t enough.

However, there are exciting plans coming in 2020. Stay tuned..