Paperless curriculum the way forward: Academic

A PAPERLESS curriculum promotes an environmentally-friendly and sustainable curriculum and addresses effects of climate change through saving of many trees, a Papua New Guinean academic said.
The trees in turn absorb greenhouse gas emissions that slow down the rate of Earth’s increasing temperature responsible for sea level rise, affecting indigenous communities in coastal areas of PNG, Dr Rex Matang, a senior lecturer at the University of Goroka, said during the Morobe students leaders summit last week.
Dr Matang described the paperless curriculum as a “God-fearing and holistic” curriculum which promotes “total respect for natural and ecological and biodiversity systems of planet earth”.
“It is the only one complete system that comprises of highly inter-dependent and inter-connected system of relationship between man and environment,” he said.
The curriculum calls for school children to spend less time in the classroom and more time outside of the classroom where the real curriculum is the child’s own socio-cultural and natural environment.
It also calls for development of energy-efficient technologies that are less-dependent on carbon and carbon-dependent fossil fuels.
The examples he gave include windmill, mini-hydro, charcoal fuel for cooking and heating.
Dr Matang was one of the key speakers at the summit that was held last  Oct 16-18 at the UOG in Eastern Highlands province.
Morobe student leaders from tertiary institutions throughout the country attended.