A clarion call for SDGs

Educationists and the youth studying in these higher educational institutions have a larger role to play and accelerate the efforts of our country for a sustainable planet for the future generation. The moment we ask an education institution about their contribution towards the SDG, the prompt answer that is received is about how environmental education is a compulsory paper for study for the youth and of how SDGs are being taught at colleges. The second apprehension is about what higher education institutions can do for the attainment of the SDGs. Well, the question is how do we develop sensitivity in students while at college by publishing text books that carry a series of lessons on the environment. What we need on the contrary is that we need on ground, realistic participation by the youth in any of the sensitivity action plans that either the government is involved in or the community is involved in. Can text books, which are by themselves a threat to the world, solve or involve students in building sensitivity towards the sustainable goals? These are questions that higher education institutions need to answer. These are commitments that HEIs can take up so as to rally a larger movement with the youth participation in order to tackle some of the issues faced by the world.

Every goal of the 17 listed dovetail in to another, which clearly goes to indicate that success in one will have a domino effect on the others. Quality Education for instance would impact gender equality which in turn will impact in eradicating poverty, bring in better health and so on….In other words, this is a great movement for us to participate in and bring about social changes and bring in inclusivity and peace in the world. What started in 2000 as Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), today have been replaced by SDGs.

The importance of involving the youth in addressing the SDGs goes without debate and presumably thought leadership and sensitivity towards social change begins with the youth. SDGs can be implemented in campuses that make tall claims in all their advertisements of large acres of land. The challenge lies in understanding the operations of these large campuses, the creation of start ups that can support SDGs, innovation and embedding at least a few SDGs in a timely and phased manner into the overall institutional strategies. This would also enable the institution gain that involvement, respect and vision of sustainability apart from enabling the institution bring about a few changes in the policies.

A clarion call to the larger campuses to participate in the SDGs with a clarity and well defined pathway to achieve the goals set and the focus on specific SDGs would impact the entire student community. There would certainly be a cascading effect of this thought process on the entire student community and make the contribution towards sustainability inclusive. Participation in maintaining the green campus would include socially useful productive work like manuring, clearing of the gardens, soil management, liquid waste management, paperless operations in the campus, water conservation, landscaping, setting up e-waste drives by students, using bikes to attend classes, recycling to begin with or even placing of water pots for birds to rest and peck on a few grains. When inclusivity is practiced in SDG towards climate change, with such small steps, there is certainly a larger impact on student behaviour as well.

In K-12 education, SUPW was once upon a time a compulsory time for all students to participate in while at school. Lessons in SUPW were always practical and experiential and one does not recall having textbooks in front of them to practice SUPW. Kitchen gardens were tended to by students, raking leaves was a joy and ensuring that composting was practiced regularly were lessons that remained in the memory. This would be true sustainability rather than just add a subject for study and acknowledging the work done by the students would be the right way of mainstreaming SDG into the curriculum.

The COVID-19 induced lockdowns taught the Education domain another lesson of integration of technology in an impactful manner in to the pedagogy followed. Adoption of digital technology into the education system is another way of reducing carbon footprint in the campus. More and more courses are now being offered online by many Universities reducing the travel time and changing lifestyles of students and thus contributing to sustainability. These steps albeit transformational, have also added on other responsibilities to the institutions such as alternate assessment methods, pedagogy innovation and the like.

Research comes on next as a contribution to the SDGs. Research that can be related to the SDGs could make a greater impact to the SDGs and contribute to the domain of knowledge and information around the SDGs. This takeaway from research and the impact areas will also create a road map into the future of sustainability. While on research, the researcher could also transfer all the learnings through teaching to the student boy thus ensuring there is inclusivity and students participate and learn about the SDGs. Faculty training could also have experts on SDGs conducting sessions for them; for teachers are the major stakeholders in this process. Faculty in turn training students to understand SDGs would only accelerate the process of enabling students understand how SDGs can make their world sustainable in the future. A consistent recall and alignment process towards the SDGs and their impact on the student world is reinforced by ensuring every aspect of the student world is aligned and connected with the goals adopted by the University.

Universities and schools have always worked and engaged with the local communities in more than one way. Whether it is participating in local challenges, community development, building civic responsibility or raising funds. This outreach gets strengthened by the SDGs as institutions can develop models to engage in community participation, addressing larger issues that the society is facing and partner as youth in finding solutions. Hands-on projects that are university and society interconnected would keep away isolation for either of them and build a highly productive and meaningful community.

What is critical at this stage is involvement of senior leadership and management in ensuring that the SDG goals are set for every higher education institution so that the youth grow sensitive and participate in the movement towards social change, nurture sympathy and empathy in students and also ensure they grow this sensitivity towards a global cause as a lifestyle.