Jakarta (ANTARA) – The Religious Affairs Ministry’s Research and Development (RandD) and Education and Training Agency called on teachers, especially in madrasas, or Islamic education-based schools, to build students’ awareness of caring for the environment.”From an early age, students need to be accustomed to take on the role of protecting the environment,” head of the agency, Amien Suyitno, remarked at the international webinar “Sharing Experience: Implementation of Project Based Learning” here on Monday. He said all citizens of the world, including Indonesia, are being impacted by the effects of climate change, ranging from pollution to global warming and the greenhouse effect and so on. ccording to Suyitno, teachers in madrasas can teach students about the environment and build awareness against climate change from the perspective of fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence. He said teachings of religion not only pertain to human matters but are also about the balance between man and nature. Hence, he deemed it im
portant for madrasa teachers to instill the values of love and care for the environment among their students. “From the start, our students must be familiarized with the common awareness of environmental sustainability, no matter how small it can be done. When the time comes, it will have a global impact,” he remarked. The international webinar was held under collaboration with the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), and the Australian Government. He believes that this type of webinar is essential, as it trains teachers in developing projects, especially in implementing the Merdeka (Independent) Curriculum. He said the Merdeka Curriculum also covers education for caring for the environment. n advisor from the Inovasi Program, Robert Randall, said that it is important for teachers to comprehensively understand the project-based learning curriculum. He noted that if teachers can apply this in class, then s
tudents will stand to gain much more from the curriculum.

Source: Antara News Agency