A drop in the amount of food wastage from 5 kilograms on an average, to 400 grams each day– all in a matter of a week–is significant progress to make as a community. But what is more commendable is that this change was not brought about by a group of protestors screaming slogans or making a hue and cry. Instead, it was a result ofthe determined efforts of young learners, who recognized their need to contribute to the global food wastage problem.
Yes, we mean the little food marshals of Grade 4 of Legacy School Bangalore, who learnt about this issue in class as a part of their curriculum and came together to make a conscious effort to reduce this wastage.
From creating awareness in their homes and among their peers and faculty; to conducting checks on the amount of food waste generated; how are learners across ages able to recognize, reflect upon and take effective action on matters that have a global impact? What enables such driven efforts towards a cause? A global perspective.
In short, global perspective refers to the capacity of an individual to think about a situation, as it relates to the rest of the world. It is more than anything else, the ability to ask, “What is the problem? How am I connected to this problem? How can I be part of the solution? How can I bring it out to the community?”– and learners at every level, are encouraged to ask these questions at Legacy. Be it the learners of Grade 01 going to the Montessori Section to help their juniors understand the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness or the learners of Grade 05 exploring sports and leisure to understand inclusion throughthe Winter Olympics, the Paralympics and more – thefundamental questions remain the same: What is it? How does what I do affectit? How can I change it?
Bringing together elements of History, Geography and the different branches of Science, the introduction and integration of world problems as identified in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations into classroom material, increases in learners, the capacity to choose what matters to them and what they want to do about it.
For instance, through the simple exercise of helping their peers and faculty become more conscious of the food waste they produce and taking measures to effectively reduce this, learners targeted not one, but two independent Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations: SDG 02 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption andProduction).
With these ongoing exercises, come lifestyle and action changes that also contribute to other SDGs, in more ways than one. Moreover, it has also been observed that when learners set out to make conscious and responsible choices from a young age, it makes most adults that these learners interact with, reassess the choices they make and the things they usually take for granted.
From cleaning up the local park to consciously making an effort for a cause of choice on an individual scale, developing global perspective helps learners develop an analytical grasp of global issues and their causes, consequences and possible courses of action to make a difference. It helps them understand and further their skills by being involved in the learning, discovery and reflection of the area of their interest, which in the larger scale of things, also makes a difference. At Legacy, we understand how much of an impact each of us can have on the larger scale of things–individually and as a community- and this is why learners who are enabled and empowered to make positive change, is what we strivefor.
As the world grows more and more globalized each day in an environment where everything is connected to everything else and every one, to each other – problems and their solutions too, take on an intricate pattern of complexity and interdependence. More than ever before in human history, the chain of reactions that are set in to motion by every undertaking of individuals and communities, has an impact on the world – regardless of the scale of the impact. Herein lies the growing significance of individuals understanding the universality of their citizenship – as citizens of the world first and then – everything else. As citizens, with a global perspective of the world we livein.