OSCE Centre supports efforts to include sustainable development in Kyrgyzstan's secondary school curriculum

BALYKCHY, Kyrgyzstan, 11 June 2010 - The first of five regional seminars financed by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek to support the inclusion of environmental sustainability in Kyrgyzstan's secondary school curriculum started today in Balykchy in the Issyk-Kul province.

More than 30 teachers and civil society representatives are taking part in the seminar, organized by the nongovernmental organizations the Regional Ecological Centre of Central Asia and AKMENA.

The event aims to provide a platform for public discussion and support the inclusion of environmental security and sustainability matters in a new national curriculum which is being developed by an Education and Science Ministry expert group. The seminar will also contribute to a report on sustainable development education in Kyrgyzstan, which will be completed by the end of the year.

"The key to sustainable development is integrating the subject in schools so that students learn about it from an early age," said Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek.

Azamat Khudaibergenov, the Director of the Bishkek Branch of the Regional Ecological Centre of Central Asia, added: "Schools should prepare Kyrgyzstan's pupils to practise new approaches that are in line with sustainable nature resource management."

Similar seminars will be held later this month in the cities of Naryn, Osh, Talas and Jalalabad. At the end of the seminars, a proposal based on the sessions will be presented to the Ministry of Education and Science.

The event is part of an OSCE Centre project to promote ecological education.