The Importance of Education

I want to tell a short story I have experienced a few years ago, which gives an example of why education is such an important factor for achieving a better future.

In 2011 during my 6 month internship in Bhutan, a Kingdom in the middle of the Himalaya, I was on a long bus journey through the breathtaking landscape of the Bhutanese mountains. I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the purity of nature. But something caught my attention, which didn’t belong in this beautiful picture. Everywhere alongside the road, you could see plastic and waste.

I was the only non-bhutanese on the bus and everybody was curious to talk to me. They were also offering me all kind of snacks they had bought for the bus ride. It’s a beautiful tradition in Bhutan to share everything you have, even if you don’t have much. I gratefully accepted the gifts. Yet, I couldn’t find a place in the bus to throw away the wrappings. I asked a woman sitting next to me where I could put my waste and with a big smile, happy she could be of help, she extended her hand and offered to give it to her. Without hesitation, she chucks it out of the window. I was perplexed looking at her in disbelieve! She didn’t know what she had done wrong and just said: “It’s ok, it’s ok!”.

I explained very patiently why plastic shouldn’t be thrown in the nature. Only later I realised why most people in Bhutan throw all their waste anywhere. Not until the opening of Bhutan to the globalised world in 2006, Bhutanese only had packaging made out of natural materials such as banana leaves. All their waste was compostable and there was no reason why not to throw it anywhere you like. However, because of this century-long habit and the lack of knowledge and education they didn’t understand why you shouldn’t throw waste in the nature.

This is a huge problem among populations of many developing countries. I’ve been working with the Ministry of Education in Bhutan to help improve its education system. One of our projects was to explain children the importance of waste management, with the intention that they will pass the information to their parents.

Education is a way of generating behavioural change and influencing decision making for sustainability. Ensuring that people are informed and aware of environmental consequences. Through education, new generations’ way of thinking and behaving will be triggered.