Dear Editor
It is absurd that Bahamian schools lack proper environmental education. Bahamian students are being oppressed by the fact that they have to pay for private curated educational services in order to obtain information that is crucial to their future. This is a clear indicator of where our country stands in relation to climate change.
I have heard it many times from young Bahamians, that they need to work in well-paid jobs to succeed. There is an idea put in young dreamers’ minds from the brink of education that they need to be an accountant or doctor or lawyer. Bahamian education systems are outdated. The BGCSE exam papers in 1999 are the same. Science, especially environmental science has also changed. What happened to our knowledge about climate change and ocean acidification? Why don’t we learn how to impart real world change?
Instead, we send our government officials to climate and world events on our behalf to read pre-written scripts on issues they aren’t even particularly concerned about. How can we allow those who don’t really care about an issue lie to the faces in this country and to give false hope to the small minority of Bahamians that actually want the change they talk of? We are bombarded with empty words every election season in an attempt to win over environmentalists. It is important to forget politics when it comes to climate safety and the climate crisis. If we don’t act quickly, there will not be any Bahamas left to vote in. As a low-lying country we are already in danger. This is something that the children of this nation don’t know. The youth are the very changemakers we depend on to save our country, and they aren’t educated as to the risks that lie ahead.
HeatherAnn Brockbank
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