Joint coordination meeting Between the Eco-Schools and Engineering programs

Under the partnership between the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection and the Ministry of National Education (MEN), a national meeting has been jointly organized on Monday, April 30, 2012 at the National Center for Training and Meetings, under the Ministry of Education, between the regional coordinators for the environment and sustainable development and their counterparts in the engineering program.

This coordination meeting is intended to generalize the Eco-Schools program and make environmental education the foundation of any sustainable development policy. It is part of the meetings that Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environment Protection, gives special attention.

These meetings aim to strengthen the cognitive abilities in the field of information technology and educative communication and in the scholastic area, including the Eco-Schools program. They also aim to identify ways to improve job performance, for an educational use adapted to the needs of program topics, a leveraging of digital resources to benefit learners, and all educational components in primary schools.

The proceedings of this meeting include the following areas:

• Presentation by the Department of Environment and Sustainable Development on the Ministry of National Education's strategy for the environment and sustainable development,

• Presentation by the Department of Engineering program on digital resources and their role in supporting the Eco-Schools program,

• Presentation by the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection on the Eco-Schools program, the portal launch and the teaching resources,

• Presentation of a practical workshop to propose a regional work program for information technology training, with the participation of regional coordinators for the environment and sustainable development and their counterparts in the engineering program.

The Eco-Schools program is a voluntary program that aims to promote education for sustainable development by involving and educating school children about environmental issues in order to understand these issues and to advocate solutions within the school.

The specific objective is to encourage positive behavior towards the environment through five key areas: water, energy, waste, food and biodiversity.

This will allow teachers to integrate environmental education into school curricula by establishing links between the subjects taught.

The Eco-Schools program has evolved significantly since its inception in November 2006, from the experimental phase with the membership of 17 schools to the gradual generalization phase from 2010 to 2013 with an annual participation of 230 schools.