In December 2000, the Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, announced plans
for the National Environmental Education Programme (NEEP) with funding
from the Danish Co-operation for Environment and Development (DANCED). He also confirmed the appointment of Dr Razeena Wagiet, as his National
Environmental Education Advisor. Her appointment represents a world first
and emphasizes the high level of importance now attached to environmental
education in South Africa.

Delta Environmental Centre’s status and track record in the field of
environmental education over the last 15 years means that we are ideally
placed to play a major role in these exciting new developments.

For the past three years, Delta Environmental Centre (DEC), with DANCED
funding, has undertaken teacher training and skills development in the
Foundation Phase in environmental education. This project will culminate
in July 2001 with Delta having supported 240 teachers in 80 schools in 4
districts in Gauteng. Other milestones have been the publication of an
environmental education training manual, and also in the production of a
training video looking at the development of a school environmental
policy.

Teacher training workshops in 2001 will continue to concentrate on the
schools’ environmental policy pack and on the upliftment and improvement
of school grounds in many other schools and colleges in Gauteng, N.W.
Province and N. Province.

Four Delta staff are also actively involved with GICD (Gauteng Institute
for Curriculum Development) in developing new environmental education
resource material for Gauteng Dept of Agriculture, Conservation,
Environment and Land Affairs. Delta is also represented on the Standards
Generating Body (SGB) for environmental education.

An encouraging new development is the synergy between DEC and local
schools whereby Delta staff have been asked to develop practical
activity-based programmes within the park for elements of the ecology- and
soil curricula. As part of this process, Delta is developing both new
resources and approaches to utilise Delta Park as an "outdoor classroom"..
Delta looks forward to developing additional targeted programmes with
teachers so as to ensure that the groups obtain maximum benefits from
their visit.

Contact details: Delta Environmental Centre, Geoff Lockwood, Marketing Manager, Tel: (011) 888-4831, Fax: (011) 888-4106, e-mail: delta@deltaenviro.org.za