The Role of the Ministry of Education in Enhancing Environmental Conservation in Southern Palestinian Governorates

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the role of the Ministry of Educations’ programs in promoting environmental conservation by analyzing the educational and awareness programs implemented in the public schools in the governorates of Southern Palestine. The study followed the descriptive analytical approach using three study tools for data collection; a questionnaire, interviews, and focus groups. The study population was targeted based on Census Method using a questionnaire distributed to 123 employees; including school headmasters, health school coordinators, and environmental clubs’ teachers; working at 50 public schools distributed across the seven educational directorates in the southern Palestinian governorates. Only 105 questionnaires were recovered. The response rate of the study was (85.37%). Also, interviews were held with middle and senior management employees working at the Ministry of Education and Water & Environmental Quality Authority. Two focus groups of male and female students from grades 7-11 at two different educational directorates were met with. The study showed the importance of education in improving environmental awareness and conserving the environment through educational and awareness programs. The study’s foremost important results are that the three educational programs (Environmentally Sustainable Schools, Environmental Occasions’ revival, and Green Spaces), held at fifty schools in the seven educational directorates, contribute to enhancing environmental conservation in the southern Palestinian governorates but not to the required extent due to many challenges facing the implementation of educational programs. Eventually, the study recommends the incorporation of environmental education into the Palestinian curriculum of at every grade level, developing the implementation of extracurricular environmental conservation activities, conducting environmental awareness sessions for the local community and parents, allocating a specific budget for education/environmental programs, activate the environmental media, and developing a unified system for monitoring and evaluating the schools’ educational and awareness programs.