A quality education often serves as the foundation for improving people’s lives and attaining sustainable development. Throughout the years, global literacy rates have improved significantly. We have also made significant improvements in terms of increasing access to education and school enrollment rates. The world has even achieved equality in primary school education between girls and boys.
But there is still work to be done. In order to achieve universal education goals at every level, we need to increase our efforts. 103 million youth worldwide lack basic literacy skills, and more than 60% of them are women. Planting trees can be a creative tool for achieving global education goals.
How Trees Can Help
Bringing trees into the school environment could have positive results on learning. Research suggests that gardening and planting trees improves student achievement levels in science, math, and language arts.
Creating school gardens or food forests filled with trees can provide lessons about nutrition, geography, composting, and more. These types of innovative lessons can spark curiosity in students, sparking a lifelong love of learning.
We can also bring trees into the education system in the form of school fundraisers. Planting trees can raise money and help meet schools’ needs to improve their buildings and services.
Plus, they can provide an opportunity for students to learn about environmental issues, ecology, and economics. Incorporating trees into outdoor education programs can be an engaging way to boost students’ achievement while developing environmental stewards.
See how trees help achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
