KLHK Will Introduce Adiwiyata School At The 10th World Water Forum

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) will introduce Indonesia's efforts to promote environmental education through Adiwiyata School at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali.

"So we show off to the world, that through environmental education, we are also trying to instill empathy or environmental (friendly) activities to children at schools," said Head of the Center for Environmental and Forestry Generation Development, Sinta Saptarina Soemiarno, as quoted by Antara in Jakarta, Sunday.

The school that is predicated by Adiwiyata is a school that has succeeded in implementing the movement of caring and cultured in the environment in schools.

He said that currently there are 28 thousand schools that are Adiwiyata Schools in Indonesia, growing rapidly from the initial 10 example schools in 2006.

"Adiwiyata School 17 years ago was only 10 model schools, and only on the island of Java. Now there are 28,270 schools throughout Indonesia," said Sinta.

Even though there are many Adiwiyata schools, according to him, the number is still very small when compared to the number of all schools in Indonesia.

"When I was proud, I was exposed at UNFCCC (The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), I said from 10 (schools) to 28,000 (schools), all applause, even though it turned out to be only 10 percent of all schools in Indonesia," he said.

He stated that there are still many schools that have not become Adiwiyata schools hampered by the readiness of schools and the support of local governments.

Therefore, his party continues to encourage local governments to increase the number of Adiwiyata Schools in their regions.

"What we are currently doing is giving awards to local governments where there are many Adiwiyata schools," he said.

He explained that to become an Adiwiyata School, schools must meet six aspects of environmentally friendly behavior, namely maintaining cleanliness, sanitation function, and drainage; managing waste with 3R principles (reduce, reuse, recycle); planting and maintaining plants; water conservation; energy conservation; and innovation of other environmentally friendly behavior.

In addition, schools must also have a curriculum that is concerned about the six environmental aspects.

"So schools called Adiwiyata School, they must have six criteria, and there is also a curriculum that has a concern for six environmental aspects," said Sinta.