Environmental Sustainability Program Implementation of Public Schools of General Santos City: Basis for Environmental Advocacy Framework

Abstract

The massive destruction brought by “Bagyong Sendong” in 2011 shook the people in Mindanao, with the realization that the only hope to recover from this grave condition is by making every person conscious to protect the environment. With this tragedy, it is of great importance that Department of Education (DepEd) officials, students, and teachers must: synergize toward environmental sustainability, serve as agents to boost public environmental awareness and demonstrate commitment to environmental protection.

Realizing the truth of these words, this study determined the level of implementation of the environmental sustainability program of the selected public schools in General Santos City (GSC). In addition, this study proposes an innovative environmental framework to promote environmental education, which is an indispensable means to attain environmental awareness that addresses environmental issues. The respondents of this study were the 350 public elementary and high school teachers. Results of the study revealed that the environmental program of selected public schools in GSC was implemented only to a moderate extent.

Finally, recommendations on how to effectively promote innovative environmental advocacy, which may lead to significant enhancements to environmental awareness, were also discussed in this study.