As an effort to improve international networking and promote sustainable development through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), RCE Yogyakarta held an International ESD Forum with the theme “The Role of University and Community to Strengthen School Education in Promoting SDGs Implementation” in University Club Hotel UGM on 12-14 November 2019. This conference is a part of university roles in addressing various problems within community, while reminiscing that it has become the center of information and education for students and community in general. In this occasion, Prof. Irfan Dwidya Prijambada. M.Eng., Ph.D. as the Director of Community Services UGM said that, “In implementing the Tri Dharma of Higher Education to carry out education, research, and community service, we are not simply become a passive recipient of technologies that exist in this world. We use this expertise to innovate and share it with our colleagues and the community, one of them is through Education for Sustainable Development.”
This conference was attended by more than 100 people consisted of speakers, presenters, and participants from Japan, Thailand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Namibia, and Indonesia. During the presentations of the speakers and presenters, it was mentioned that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. It means including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behavior and take action for sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Development consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way.
Thus, together with Shizuoka University Japan and Srinakharinwirot University Thailand, Directorate for Community Services of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in collaboration with Regional Center Expertise (RCE) Yogyakarta hosts the International ESD Forum with the theme “The Role of University and Community to Strengthen School Education in Promoting SDGs Implementation” as part of a responsive role to support community-related with school education.
Until now, there are many UGM lecturers and students that have been involving art, science, and community participation in every kind of their activities that become their responsibility to the university and the country as well. This international ESD Forum provides a valuable opportunity for academics, experts, and decision-makers to share experiences and ideas. This program has some aims such as (1) to provide transformative learning space for academics to contribute in achieving the sustainable development goals especially in the school education; (2) to create young leaders that are passionate and motivated in making initiatives and its implementation related to education issues; and (3) to strengthen networking and share the good practices and experiences in managing and implementing the SDGs related to school education.
After two days of the conference, it was then followed by a field trip to Pentingsari Village and Tumbuh School. In Tumbuh School, all the participants were invited to see and the school activities inside and outside the class that mostly about farming while in Pentingsari Village participants were taught how to make coffee and how to play gamelan as the traditional ensemble music of Javanese in Indonesia that made up predominantly of percussive instruments.
