Alonso Miguel and Sofia Ribeiro presented the School Environmental Awareness Activities Offer for the 2022/2023 school year

Nov. 30, 2022

The Regional Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs, Sofia Ribeiro, and the Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, were present this morning at the presentation session of the School Environmental Awareness Activities for the 2022/2023 school year, at Tomás de Borba Primary and Secondary School, in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira island.

Alonso Miguel said on the occasion that “environmental education is one of the fundamental pillars of the mission of the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, which works to raise community awareness of environmental challenges and the importance of protecting and enhancing the natural heritage” of the Azores, “cultivating the Azorean population's sense of belonging concerning this extraordinary heritage”.

“It is with this goal that is made available the Offer of School Environmental Awareness Activities every school year, aimed at educational establishments in the Region, disseminating the work developed by the different government departments in the area of environmental competence,” said the Regional Secretary. He added that “the environmental education actions included in this offer, intend, through the education system, that young people become increasingly aware to environmental issues and that they identify themselves as active agents in the preservation of the natural heritage of the Azores.”

According to Alonso Miguel, “the educational offer for the 2022/2023 school year presents even greater thematic richness and diversity, maintaining the actions related to nature conservation and biodiversity preservation, through the various environmental management mechanisms existing in the Region, namely the Island Nature Parks, the Azores Geopark, the Biosphere Reserves and the LIFE projects underway, adding also issues of great relevance for the Region and that are huge challenges, such as climate change and circular economy”.

The Regional Secretary also stressed that “the offer also includes visits to the Environmental Interpretation Centres, properly adapted to the school public, where knowledge and learning about several elements of environmental interest existing in the Region are stimulated”.

Alonso Miguel also highlighted that “the presented actions were designed for the different age groups and subjects established in the School Programme” and announced that “throughout 2021 and 2022, 463 sessions have already been carried out under this Offer, involving about 8000 students and 1200 teaching professionals”.

The Regional Secretary of Education and Cultural Affairs highlighted, in turn, “the format designed by the Environment and Climate Change team, which is based on the voluntary adherence of the organic units to the activities presented, respecting the 'timings' and the plans of each school”.

“It is, therefore, an initiative that manifests itself as being at the service of the school and the educational community and not an activity that demands dynamics from this same community to satisfy its statistical projects and political commitment”, reinforced the governor.

Sofia Ribeiro said that she “is planning a legislative change to the curricula of basic education to make environmental awareness and sustainable development a priority in the early years of schooling”.

The Regional Secretary had already announced a legislative change to the “pillar documents” of the regional education system, which, in addition to the diploma of the basic education curricula, focused on the review of the school autonomy and management regime and the statutes of the teaching staff and the educational action staff.