SDSN and the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation launch a nation-wide scale-up of ESD training for Malaysian teachers

On 3 July, Puan Fadzila Fadzil, Undersecretary for Strategic Planning and International Relations at the Malaysian Ministry of Education, represented YB Fadhlina Sidek, Minister of Education, at the opening ceremony of the ESD for 2030 Asia Pacific Regional Meeting on Transforming the Futures of Education: Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development in Learning Systems, at Sunway University.

Fadzilah, who is also Secretary-General of the Malaysian National Commission for UNESCO, welcomed the convening of the meeting in Malaysia, drawing parallels between its objectives and the Malaysia MADANI Philosophy.

She noted that, consistent with the concept of MADANI, ESD emphasizes ethical values and mindsets, and a sense of responsibility, to guide young people to relate what and how they learn to how they can make a difference in their communities, environments and the world.

Fadzilah also congratulated the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF) for funding the development and delivery of a professional development program on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for in-service teachers in Malaysian national and national-type schools.

This announcement comes on the heels of a pilot teacher professional development program currently underway in 7 Malaysian schools. To date, over 385 teachers have been involved in the professional development process, with the training of an additional 210 teachers by the end of the year. 

In addition to the initial 7 pilot schools, the Minister expressed her gratitude to Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Sir Jeffrey Cheah, Founding Trustee of JCF, for agreeing to support an additional 30 schools, that will impact more than 2500 teachers across the country.

“Having thirty more schools sign up before the pilot program concludes showcases the hunger and interest among Malaysian teachers for professional development in ESD. SDSN and JCF are partnering strategically with MOE to prepare our teachers to deliver our curriculum with an ESD mindset,” said Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Sir Jeffrey Cheah, who is also Co-chair of Mission 4.7, a global initiative calling on world leaders to implement ESD at scale.

Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Sir Jeffrey Cheah said, “Malaysian teachers who have undergone the pilot training tell us they now feel more able to create the learning opportunities for their students to be changemakers”.

The teacher professional development program in ESD is a project managed out of SDSN’s Secretariat office in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, established in November 2022 and hosted in Sunway University. Together, SDSN and JCF see teacher capacity-building in ESD as pivotal to support the education system in Malaysia in the implementation of SDG 4 Target 7: Education for Sustainable Development.

The program is carried out with the support of the Education Policy Planning and Research Division (EPRD), Ministry of Education Malaysia. It adapts and applies global ESD competencies and frameworks to local contexts.

As part of JCF’s continued commitment to nation-building and advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it has gifted US$20 million to the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). This fund has since financed the development of the Jeffrey Sachs Center for Sustainable Development at Sunway University, as well as the establishment of SDSN’s Secretariat office in Malaysia.

Also present at the event was Professor Jeffrey Sachs, world renowned economist and the President of SDSN, who delivered a keynote address on the imperative to transform education in order to build prosperous, resilient and sustainable societies of the future.