Page 114 - Shaping A Sustainable Future

Environmental Education can and should start from Benefits:
a young age. According to an article from The Straits
Times in 2016, ‘traditional Japanese schools, students • Being able to develop a child’s learning ability by
do o-soji, which translates as “big cleaning”. Students engaging them with learning when they are young
are rostered to tidy classrooms and wash toilets for
about 20 minutes, sometimes four days a week. These and curious sets excellent foundations for their
processes aim to make them respect their surroundings future
and refrain from making a mess as they will be the ones • Good habits, formed when young, last for life.
cleaning them.’
GymKidz is one of the many educational providers in
Singapore, in contrast, has, for the previous generation,
placed a lot of emphasis on academic success, and this Singapore. Suppose all educational providers can teach
may have resulted in batches of students of the previous the importance of protecting the environment. In that
case, we can develop a future generation of citizens
generation not having the same passion towards the who will care for, preserve and love our environment.
environment as their counterparts from Japan. To
inculcate in students good habits such as a sense of
responsibility and care, the Ministry of Education in
Singapore has begun to require all school students to be
involved in the daily cleaning their school environment.

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