Monday 11 December 2017

‘Schoolchildren to swot up on UN’s SDGs”

The Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has urged the Secretary of Education to include the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the National Curriculum.

Mary Creagh MP wrote a letter to Justine Greening, demanding inclusion of more awareness surrounding the goals in schools.

In March, the previous EAC published a report which found the government "seems uninterested in raising the profile of the SDGs" and "showed a marked reluctance to take this forward as a domestic agenda".

The government responded by admitting young people are vital to achieving the goals as they are the generation most affected by them.

It added it is working to "increase their knowledge and engagement in development issues to help them become agents of change."

The EAC Chair says despite this, there have been no signals the national curriculum will include measures to raise the profile of the goals.

Ms Creagh MP said: "The government’s reluctance to appoint a Cabinet-level Minister with responsibility for implementing sustainable development across the UK or a sustainability advisory body, suggests a distinct lack of imagination and ambition in their strategy for implementing the goals in the UK."