The key is whether or not the school can make full use of "green power." Schools with this magical power can turn into charmed green campuses. There, "study" is no longer a process of "no pain, no gain" but rather "no fun, no gain." And isn't that in line with the original Greek word for "school," "schole," meaning "leisure"?
Using such creative thinking, the national education reforms that have been so concerned Taiwanese are moving away from classes and textbooks and taking larger targets. The "new school movement" is the latest wave. How did this new, environmentally conscious trend take shape? How did it start with elementary schools, the schools in which students stay for the most number of years?
Under a project begun by the Ministry of Education in 2002, approved schools can receive up to NT$2 million per year to make their facilities more sustainable. And as schools strive toward the ideal of providing a well-rounded education, more and more green spots are cropping up in elementary schools in Taiwan's cities over the last few years. There is a move away from the old notion of a school as just a set of walls, a statue, and a sandy exercise yard.
The most significant part of it all is that the "greening" of these schools has everything to do with environmental education. Examples include building an ecological pool, installing a shade-providing structure. and building a rainwater recycling system.
Chang Tzuchau, executive secretary of the Ministry of Education's environmental task force and a professor at National Taiwan Normal University, says that the elementary school level is most important in tying campus remodeling to environmental education. In metropolitan Taipei, for example, some elementary schools are creating vegetable patches where kids can experience planting and growing things for themselves. Others are rehabilitating endangered plants and animals on the school grounds, giving kids the chance to experience the beauty of nature firsthand.
With the astronomical prices of urban land, recreating a forest environment in the city is a rare thing indeed. What is it like at these "urban oasis" schools that combine an urban education with countryside experiences?
Hushan Elementary on Mt. Yangming, Shuanglian Elementary in the backstreets near Taipei Railway Station, and Nangang Elementary in the industrial outskirts of the city are success stories in the push toward environmental education at the elementary level. Though they possess different geographical attributes, they all bring nature and pleasure back into the lives of schoolchildren by remodeling the campus and the curriculum.
Let's take advantage of the warm afternoon sun of early summer and go along with these students for a look at their schools!
2002-2009年永續校園計畫補助校數
小學 |
國中 |
高中 |
大學 |
總計 |
339 |
58 |
45 |
30 |
532 |
In these city elementary schools where both classrooms and natural landscapes are found, kids can both learn and enjoy themselves. At urban schools with their own farmland and gardens, myriad forms of life are the teachers and nature herself is the subject. The photo was taken at Nangang Elementary School.