The US-Taiwan Eco-campus Partnership Program hosted its 2022 US-Taiwan Eco-campus Partnership Program Certification Awards and Result Presentation on Dec. 21, 2022. Tainan City’s Hushan Experimental Elementary School, which has been committed to environmental education for the past eleven years, became the first school in Asia to win the permanent green flag award.
Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che expressed that he is proud to hear that Hushan Experimental Elementary School’s efforts have been recognized and hopes that schools in Tainan can expose students to more environmental education at a global level through international exchanges and collaborations. In response to the UN SDGs, Tainan is dedicated to transforming itself into a green energy sustainable city. It is the first city in Taiwan to launch a low-carbon campus certification system that aims to teach children about environmental and ecosystem protection in schools.
Bureau of Education Director-general Cheng Hsin-hui remarked that recently the Bureau is actively encouraging schools to incorporate the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their environmental education curriculum. The objective is to motivate schools to become more aware of major global issues and sustainability trends and work together to create friendly, low-carbon, and sustainable campuses. Hushan Experimental Elementary School Principal Wu Chien-chung expressed that they will keep on inspiring students to care about the environment and carry out environmental protection actions. Hopefully, every student at Hushan Experimental Elementary School will make protecting the environment their responsibility.
Jointly launched by Taiwan’s Executive Yuan Environmental Protection Administration and the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US-Taiwan Eco-campus Partnership Program focuses on children and encourages schools to guide their students to learn more about the campus environment. Students become more familiar with the campus environment through actual activities, take part in environmental protection assemblies, and are inspired to conduct self-directed learning and research and present environmental documentaries and independent research presentations. Hushan Experimental Elementary School has already won the Green Flag Award, which is the highest honor of the Eco Campus program, in 2015, 2018, and 2020, respectively; and this year it became the only school in Asia to be recognized with a permanent Green Flag Award.