Manitoba schools to teach sustainability: Selinger to Rio summit

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This article was published 20/6/2012 (3131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba students will have a new Grade 12 course on sustainable development, and every school will have a sustainability plan, Premier Greg Selinger said today at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro.

"Manitoba is currently the only province in Canada that includes sustainable development in its mission and vision statement for education," said Selinger. "Everyone has a role to play as we strive to make Manitoba one of the most sustainable places to live on earth. Our goal with education for sustainable development is to give young people the tools they need to make informed choices for themselves and our environment."

The province will:

• launch a new Grade 12 course called Global Issues: Citizenship and Sustainability to promote active democratic citizenship, ecological literacy, critical media literacy and ethical decision-making;
• create Canada's first Education for Sustainable Leadership Council comprised of school boards, teachers, parents and post-secondary institutions;
• work toward a goal of ensuring every school in Manitoba has a sustainable school plan by 2015; and
• expand the natural resource officers in schools program to ensure more students can learn about how Manitoba's abundant natural resources are conserved and protected for future generations.

The premier noted the province is also partnering with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on a number of projects including an upcoming report on ESD in post-secondary institutions in Manitoba.