Factors Militating Against the Implementation of Early Childhood Education as a Grass Root for Sustainable Peace in Nigeria.
Introduction The early childhood education is a field that has been rather slow to take up the challenge of sustainability; it has a potentially significant role to play not because of underlying concerns for children’s welfare, but because of interest in children’s environments and its attention to social justice. Recently, a new dimension has been added to early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) as an emerging national and international field, given a fillip with the launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) (UNESCO, 2005). Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) recognizes that young children have capacities to be active agents of change now, as well as in the future, and that early learning is important for shaping environmental attitudes, knowledge and actions. This is because early childhood is a period when the foundations of thinking, being, knowing and acting are becoming ‘hard wired’ and their relationships with others and with the environment are becoming established. It is also a time for providing significant groundings for adult activism around environmental issues (Chawla, 1998; Davis and Gibson, 2006; and Wells and Lekies, 2006). If children are to grow up in a world that maximizes their life opportunities, that recognizes their capacities as active citizens, and nurtures hope, peace, equity and sustainability. Adults cannot do ‘business as usual’ and simply pass the problems of unsustainable living on to the next generation. The UNICEF (2003) report that children need to be seen and heard in their communities with a wide range of social and environmental activities but the concern for sustainability within their environment is of great importance to them. It also observed that responsible citizenship is not something that is suddenly given at 18 years of age. Therefore, Hart(1997) insisted that even very young children have the capacity for active participation
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