Education, 10 billion missing to implement the UN 2030 agenda

In order to bring Italy's school system into line with the UN's Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals, at least 15 billion euros would be needed, ten billion more than the four billion currently envisaged by the NRP. This is what emerged from the data of Asvis, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, presented in Rome on the occasion of the prize-giving ceremony for secondary schools as part of Gea Edu - Ideas for the Future, the project on circular economy and sustainability issues devised by the Article 49 Foundation and the Gea - Green Economy Agency press agency.

According to the Asvis Report "Scenarios for Italy at 2030 and 2050. Choices to be made now for sustainable development', the resources potentially needed to reach the Targets of Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda - guaranteeing inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all - would amount to a total of EUR 14,224 million, but only EUR 4,110 million of this has been provided for in the revision of the NRP. The areas of intervention to achieve sustainable development include work on classrooms to transform them into innovative learning environments, the adaptation of university accommodation to European standards, training courses for teaching staff, and courses for the transition of students from high school to university.
According to the Asvis data, 7,854 million euro would be needed to modernise classrooms, compared to the 2,100 million allocated by the NRP, while 4,125 million would be needed to increase university accommodation, but only 960 million are provided for by the Plan. Insufficient funds are also provided by the NRP for training courses for teachers and pupils: 1,415 million would be needed for the former against an allocation of 800 million, while for the latter only 250 million have been allocated by the NRP against an expenditure forecast of 830 million.

"The resources earmarked for education in Italy are insufficient to achieve what is set out in Goal 4 of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," said Mariaflavia Cascelli, head of the education area at Asvis. "Without adequate planning of policies and investments, it is not possible to guarantee access to environments that enable the construction of educational pathways where not only skills can be developed but also critical thinking and a long-term vision of the common good can be cultivated, which are indispensable for building sustainable and just development, throughout the country, at every level of education.

The event was also the occasion to award the prizes for the second edition of the project Gea Edu - Ideas for the Future. Three schools won the contest. The Istituto Tecnico Tecnologico - I.I.S. Federico Patetta in Cairo Montenotte, Liguria, won with the project "Hands inside the earth", presented by classes 4I and 5H. The initiative, in collaboration with Iren, included a visit to the Iren biodigester in Ferrania to see how organic waste is treated, the construction of a robotic arm with recycled materials, the design of the 'Hands in the Earth' zero-energy-impact building, and the creation of a bookcrossing at the institute.
The Itet 'Grazia Deledda' in Lecce, Puglia, was awarded for the project 'A cup to save the environment' presented by class 3ABA. The students imagined, and calculated, how much CO2 emissions would be saved if aluminium cups were used instead of polystyrene cups supplied by the school's coffee dispensers.
Finally, the Liceo delle Scienze Umane "Corrado Alvaro" in the city of Palmi, Calabria, won the prize with the project "A cool cover" presented by class 4AS, which proposed the idea of designing a mobile phone cover made from vegetable raw materials such as the dried trunk of the agave, fibres and natural dyes.