Secondary and Higher Education for Development of in Indonesia

Abstract

Indonesia's Protection and Management of the Environment Act stresses the importance of environmental education in protecting and managing the environment. Environmental education is defined as efforts to change behaviors and attitudes of individuals to improve their knowledge, skills, and awareness of environmental values, issues, and problems and to motivate people to participate in efforts to preserve the environment for the present and future generations. Environmental education can be carried out through monolithic and integrative approaches, including the infusion and block methods, which incorporate the study of conservation, the environment, and natural disaster mitigation. Secondary and higher environmental education can be formally conducted as separate courses or as parts of other subjects. No explicit environmental education for sustainable agriculture is depicted in the curricula of secondary schools in Indonesia. Environmental education is delivered by either curricular or extracurricular activities. In universities with agricultural faculties, environmental education is generally integrated into several supporting competency courses (e.g., plant ecology). An exception is Bogor Agricultural University, where specific primary courses on agriculture and the environment are offered. Many sustainable-agriculture field schools have been run by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and foreign organizations to specifically deal with agricultural problems. Examples include field schools on integrated pest management, soil and water conservation, and watershed management.