sustainable development and education

Huraa ali hussein
College of law

The concept of sustainable development is one of the new concepts in relation to the environmental framework in many countries of the world. This is due to the interest in environmental issues. The environmental dimension in the field of economics has changed the concept of economic development from merely increasing the exploitation of scarce economic resources to satisfy the multiple and renewable human needs to the concept of sustainable development, as this concept seemed to appear clearly in the international development literature since the seventies of the twentieth century.
This is due to the growing environmental awareness, and to the interest aroused by the reports of the famous Club of Rome in the seventies, and the results of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in Sweden on the necessity of preserving natural and environmental resources. However, the conflict between the environment and development continued, and that all prevailing development patterns are economically multiple, and that they do not fulfill the condition of sustainability, and that they are incapable and harmful by future standards, because they are taking place at the expense of consuming and depleting the natural balance of future generations, and this led to the convening of the first international environmental summit, which is The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. The fourth principle endorsed by the summit indicated that one of the conditions for achieving sustainable development is environmental protection, and development cannot be thought of in isolation from it.
Markndya and Barbier defined it as: that level of economic activities that maintain the level of environmental awareness in accordance with the objectives of specific environmental policy with all ideas of sustainability, and the increase that consists in the net benefit of economic development mainly for the maintenance of services and the quality of resources nature over time.
Its definition came in Webester’s Dictionary as that sustainable development that uses natural resources without allowing them to be depleted or destroyed in part or in whole. And (W.Ruchekhous), Director of US Environmental Protection, defined it as that process that recognizes the need to achieve economic growth that is compatible with environmental capabilities.
Sustainable development in education is a set of methods, procedures and strategies that are followed with the aim of moving students to a better position and achieving a balance between knowledge and its application to meet students’ cognitive and social needs. Which will achieve a decent life and enable the teacher for students to deal with various issues such as democracy, respect for other opinion and cooperation. Strategies aimed at enhancing the capabilities of students and teachers at all levels
The educational reality in Iraq
The field of education came in the second rank in the sequence of the Millennium Development Goals due to what education means from the perspective of human and sustainable development, and the creation of cultural and social capital, which is the most important type of investment in the life of human societies. Education has been linked to the civilized march of Iraq. The Iraqis invented writing at the dawn of the Sumerian dynasties in the fifth millennium BC. Two schools dating back to the era of Hammurabi were found in Spar and Kish. In the era 526-539 BC, educational institutions were called schools, but the historical distance diverged further as Iraqi society entered its dark phase following the fall of Baghdad in 1258, and a school of the required level was not established except during the reign of Daoud Pasha the Ottoman 1817-1832, and with the beginning of the decade The second of the last century and the formation of the modern Iraqi state, there were (84) primary schools, and in the year 1931 the Iraqi government brought a committee from the International Institute to the College of Teachers at Columbia University to study the educational system in Iraq and its rapid development, and based on that report of the International Institute, the Knowledge System No. 33 was developed For the year 1943 [United Nations Development Programme, 2011, 146] The educational process in Iraq has witnessed many great achievements and failures, as after education was free and compulsory, and after the comprehensive campaign for compulsory literacy in the seventies of the last century, education inputs receded with entering the tunnel of the Iraqi war – The results of these failures accumulated, especially after 1990, that is, after the imposition of the international embargo on Iraq. After the share of one student was (620) dollars, it decreased to (47) dollars for the period 1993-2002]. With the collapse of the previous regime, the educational system’s infrastructure, especially schools, buildings and equipment, were destroyed and looted. This exacerbated the system’s problems that had accumulated over decades. From the foregoing, the researcher will present a number of statistical data and planning indicators through which the reality of education in Iraq will be clarified and analyzed, and the extent of its effectiveness in advancing sustainable development.ً
To achieve sustainable development, consideration is given to the constituent elements of sustainable development represented in the environmental, social, cultural and economic elements, with the aim of improving the human condition of society.
The idea of sustainable development is based on the environment, economy and society.
The pyramid model of development has recently appeared as an alternative consisting of four dimensions, namely the economic dimension (man-made capital). And the environmental dimension (natural capital). And the institutional dimension (social capital). And the social dimension (human capital).
One of the most important principles of sustainable development is fairness, that is, everyone’s access to a fair and balanced share of the wealth of society. Empowerment means giving community members the ability to actively participate in decision-making and mechanisms or to influence them.
This is in order to increase the good sense of belonging among these individuals in a way that enables them to actively participate in the development process.
That is, the people of governance and administration are subject to the principles of transparency, accountability, oversight, and responsibility. Among the areas of development is the development of education. In order to achieve sustainable development, the government calls on the international community to make additional efforts to help the people at various levels, including political, social, economic, and environmental, and to advance, reform, and develop sustainable development through Raising the standard of living for all members of society. By addressing unemployment by creating new job opportunities, creating new industries and building hospitals.
Forming specialized and scientific committees and workshops in each governorate, in cooperation with universities, to create a working mechanism to serve the community in all areas that contribute to raising sustainable development indicators. Addressing administrative and financial corruption by creating a legislative, legal and financial environment, since administrative and financial corruption leads to the depletion of human resources and lack of optimal independence of resources.