DOI 10.5958/2230-7311.2015.00009.4
Education for Sustainable Development
Suman Thakran
Research Scholar, Dept. of Education, M.D.U. Rohtak, India.
ABSTRACT
Sustainable development is the need to integrate social, environmental, and economic concerns so as to arrive at development paths
which meet the needs of present generations, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Education for sustainable development is a vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural
traditions and respect for the Earth’s natural resources. It emphasizes aspects of learning that enhance the transition towards
sustainability including future education; citizenship education; education for a culture of peace; gender equality and respect for
human rights; health education; population education; education for protecting and managing natural resources; and education
for sustainable consumption. Education for sustainable development has come to be seen as a process of learning how to make
decisions that consider the long term future of the economy, ecology and social well-being of all communities. Building the capacity
for such futures-oriented thinking is a key task of education. Education for sustainable development must explore the economic,
political and social implications of sustainability by encouraging learners to reflect critically on their own areas of the world,
to identify non-viable elements in their own lives and to explore the tensions among conflicting aims. Development strategies
suited to the particular circumstances of various cultures in the pursuit of shared development goals will be crucial. Educational
approaches must take into account the experiences of indigenous cultures and minorities, acknowledging and facilitating their
original and important contributions to the process of sustainable development.
Keywords : environment, development, education, consumption.
Education is an essential tool for achieving sustainability. People
development and whether or not it is attainable. They have
around the world recognize that current economic development
different visions of what sustainable societies will look like
trends are not sustainable and that public awareness,
and how they will function. These same people wonder why
education, and training are the keys to moving society toward
educators have not moved more quickly to develop education
sustainability. People argue about the meaning of sustainable
for sustainability programs. The lack of agreement and
definition has stymied efforts to move education for sustainable
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development (ESD) forward. It is curious to note that while we
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have difficulty envisioning a sustainable world, we have no
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difficulty identifying what is unsustainable in our societies. We
can rapidly create a laundry list of problems - inefficient use
DOI:
of energy, lack of water conservation, increased pollution,
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abuses of human rights, overuse of personal transportation,
consumerism, etc. But we should not chide ourselves because
Address for correspondence
Research Scholar, Dept. of Education, M.D.U. Rohtak, India.
E-mail: thakran.suman@yahoo.com
Submission: 06 January, 2015
Accepted : 20 February, 2015
Acceptance: 12 April, 2015
Educational Quest: An Int. J. of Education and Applied Social Sciences Vol 6 l Issue 1 l April 2015
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