Dubai now has “world’s first” fully climate change certified school

Dubai: GEMS Education is celebrating what it describes as “the first school in the world” to become fully UN climate change certified, it said on Monday.

GEMS The Kindergarten Starters, an Indian curriculum school in Dubai, has 30 senior leaders and all 300 teaching staff, led by principal Asha Alexander, recognised as Climate Change Teachers, following the completion of a course accredited by UN CC: Learn, in partnership with Harwood Education.

The teaching team includes “the world’s very first Arabic teachers to qualify” under the programme, GEMS said in a media statement.

All students at the school will now have the opportunity to be taught by 300 Climate Change Teachers. The course is designed to equip educators across all age groups and disciplines with the knowledge to deliver lessons on climate change. Students will cover a range of topics, including climate change science, gender and environment, children and climate change, cities and climate change, and human health.

Alexander said: “By training our teachers to educate children about the impact of climate change, we will enable them to be responsible citizens of the future. Completing this course has given our teachers confidence in their own understanding of the issues and in their position as a UN accredited specialist Climate Change Teachers, to teach children effectively.”