THREE schools in Qingdao were certified and granted the title “International Eco-School” by the China Center for Environmental Education and Communication (CEEC) and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in China.

    Qingdao Chongqing No. 2 Road Primary School, Qingdao Shandong Road Primary School and Qingdao No. 2 Middle School together with two other schools in Jinan City were the first International Eco-Schools in Shandong.

    The Eco-School program was initiated by FEE, a non-government and non-profit organization aiming to promote sustainable development through environmental education.

    Through the program, schools will contribute to improving the environments of schools and their local communities through seven steps: Eco-School Committee, Environmental Review, Action Plan, Monitoring and Evaluation, Curriculum Work, Informing and Involving and Local Agenda.

    The program has been conducted in more than 50 countries.

    Successful schools will be awarded the Eco-Schools green flag. China launched the program in 2009 and there are already Eco-Schools in Jiangsu Province and Shenzhen.

    Qingdao has seen a number of schools adding environmental education to their curricula. There are 260 city-level green schools, 33 city-level green kindergartens, 79 provincial green schools and seven national green schools.

    (Chen Ting, Zhou Jianliang)