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ome 28 teachers from seven countries across Southeast Asia recently paid a visit to SMK Wikrama state vocational high school in Bogor, West Java, to learn about the school’s Environmental Education for Sustainable Development project.

The teachers were part of the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization’s (SEAMEO) Qitep in Science program, a Bandung-based intergovernmental organization that aims to train teachers across Southeast Asia in the fields of education, science and culture.

Program staff member, Heri Setiadi, said the teachers came from Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Timor Leste and Indonesia.

“We’re hoping the Environmental Education for Sustainable Development concept the school currently implements can inspire these teachers and that they can adapt it to their home countries,” Heri said.

SMK Wikrama has had numerous achievements related to environmental protection and held many activities affiliated with the SEAMEO program.

A biology teacher from Finantil Comoro High School in Timor Leste, Jenina Alves Marcal, said she liked Wikrama’s idea of utilizing the school building’s rooftop to plant organic vegetables and decorative plants, and then to sell the crops in the canteen.

Wikrama’s headmaster Iin Mulyani said that since the school had been established in 1996, it had focused on being environmentally responsible. “We try to be as thrifty as possible by, for example, not using air conditioners in the classrooms and optimizing the use of sunlight,” she said.

“We’re listed as an ASPnet School member under UNESCO. We received the Indonesia Green Award in 2012, 2014 and 2016. We were also named an inspirational school this year,” she added.

Iin went on to explain that the school integrated environmental education into its daily intra- and extracurricular activities. One of the activities is recycling waste materials into handcrafts.