Since 1986, the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone, a local NGO, has undertaken a range of initiatives to raise environmental awareness and improve environmental education in Sierra Leone. It has worked with secondary and primary schools to implement environmental education through extracurricular activities such as the establishment of Nature Clubs and integration of environmental themes in other subjects, or “cross-curricula” education for secondary schools. To achieve the maximum output of cross-curricula environmental education in schools, the Society in collaboration with the Ministry of Education has produced a teachers’ guide for environmental education in English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies classes with an additional source book that gives an overall background on national and international environmental issues. These books were written by Sierra Leonean teachers in an intensive two-week writing workshop. Funds for the project were provided by the European Union and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK. The books were distributed free to all Junior Secondary Schools in the country after several training workshops for teachers were organized.
At the tertiary level, the Society has been instrumental in inculcating Environmental Education as a subject in the curriculum for both undergraduate and post-graduate levels in the Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Science of the Njala University of Sierra Leone. Through this curriculum, university students participate in 3-month internships at the Society during which time they conduct environmental research.
For more information, contact cssl@sierratel.sl