The UNESCO-Associated Schools Project conducted a two-day seminar workshop in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro on April 27-28. Dubbed Youth and Educators for Education for Sustainable Development (YES4ESD), the event was participated by 51 educators and 45 youth leaders from 30 schools who want to be involved in the promotion of ESD. It also rekindled the involvement of inactive UNESCO- ASP member schools, coordinators and youth chapters.

The activity  was participated by local city and provincial colleges, private colleges, public and private elementary schools, a science high school, international schools, DepEd officials from Vigan down to Zamboanga, and members and officers of the United Nations Association of the Philippines and the United Nations Youth Association of the Philippines.  UNESCO Commissioner Ethel Salazar was the event’s main speaker who discussed the YES4ESD.

Dr. Salazar also tackled the Philippine Philosophy of Education, the ESD vision,  and the overall goals of ESD for the MOE/DepED.

Speakers, among others, were PNU Professor and  Director of the Center for Linkages and Extension Serafin A. Arviola Jr., Mrs. Maria Eljie M. Mabunga who talked about the PNU experiences and methods used in integrating ESD through the multi-subject approach, and  Sairija Marie S. Pagsibigan, of Xavier School who discussed her experiences with the Mondialogo.

The event was highlighted with the report of UNESCO-ASPNet National Coordinator Dr. Rene M. Colocar  on the UNESCO’s international search for Best ESD practices and discussed the ESD projects implemented in the city of Calapan. Colocar.  

The seminar ended with a city tour that showed how the local government and its people implement projects that embody the UNESCO-ESD ideals. This included site visits to barangays engaged in self-reliant, economic projects such as fish deboning, preparation and preservation processes, and fruit preservation. The delegates also witnessed students of City College of Calapan teach kids from the coastal areas how to read, speak, count and write.