Earth Charter Lessons from Tajikistan
Exciting news came these days from the Earth Charter Affiliate in Tajikistan. Says Dr. Muazama Burkhanova, Chairperson of the Foundation for Support for Civil Society Initiatives:
"Last Saturday the first pilot Earth Charter lesson was held in the 8th grade of Dushanbe secondary school N1. Some 40 plus students, mostly Tajiks, met with our Earth Charter activists, who came brought with them Earth Charter posters and brochures with the Earth Charter text, translated and published by our Foundation earlier this year.
The students and the teachers were very excited about the lesson: they had heard it was coming, and were happy to the first among their country peers to have this lesson.
The teachers of this and other Dushanbe schools had previously received and studied the Earth Charter Guidebook for Teachers, which we had translated into Tajik and published for teachers' training and use.
The most difficult task for me was to find simple, strong and emotionally charged words to tell the students about the inspiring vision of the Earth Charter, its meaning for us as human beings and a part of the greater community of life, convey to them the sense of urgency and our moral duty to Earth and to other beings, and live its values every day of our lives.
However, my fears were groundless: the students were very susceptible to the beautiful and inspiring text, and by their insistence the school principle had to double the duration of the lesson by adding another hour.
Besides the Guidebook, brochures and the posters we also used the Earth Charter video and the DVD with the Earth Charter lesson produced by our colleague, the Earth Charter Affiliate Dr. Vladimir Zakharov, the President of the Russian Center for Environmental Policy and Culture and the Head of the Environmental Commission of the Russian Public Chamber.
According to the agreement between our Foundation and the Ministry of Education of Tajikistan, we plan to have 16 Earth Charter lessons, one per week, with one Earth Charter principle at a time. Student's literary compositions, art work, scientific projects in biology, geography, social sciences and foreign languages are the expected results of our efforts."