Let’s preserve our world - Musa

MUSA BANJA, KAUR SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

The world we are living in should be well taken care of by all in order to live in peace and harmony. This can only be done if we put all our hands on deck and protect and preserve the world. The world is like a human; it should be nurtured the way we nurture our sons and daughters to be good citizens of tomorrow.


Climate change is causing a lot of havoc across the globe and this can be dangerous to mankind. Still, people find it difficult to distinguish between climate change and global warming. The two are different. Climate change refers to the shifts in things like precipitation, wind patterns, and temperatures over a period, while global warming is the rising average temperatures of the planet. The most threatening between the two is climate change which should receive greater attention from all of us.


Every leader from every nook and cranny of the globe should put climate change at the top of his or her agenda in order to preserve the world for generations yet unborn. Only in this way, could we have a safer place for our grandchildren to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Therefore, a concerted effort is needed to curb the menace for a better world.


The causes of climate change rely heavily on human activity, and is detrimental to man himself. Man keeps on deforesting the land without replacement. This could haunt him in the near future. The cutting down of trees for roofing, charcoal, fencing, and many other things, may cost us our lives or the lives of the generations yet to come. The burning of fossil fuels for electricity, and bush burning, are other activities man should avoid if he wants a better future for his children. If not, the future of the world is doomed and we may not have answers for children should they ask us questions tomorrow.


The negative effects that climate change can bring to us, if not averted, are enormous. It is responsible for the extreme weather conditions that we are experiencing right now in most parts of the globe. Other negative effects may include economic hardship, poor health, conditions and low level of food productivity across the globe.


Measures should be taken to address this unfortunate situation, and to have a world that is safe for all. We should start thinking about how to purchase renewable energy supplies in our homes to minimise, or even stop, the way climate change is hitting the world.


If not, it can cause a lot of negative impacts in our school systems. For example, in The Gambia children are eager to go to school because of the school feeding programme. If we allow climate change to hit the world, it will adversely affect our school roll, thereby causing many school dropouts.


In a nutshell, climate change should be everybody’s business, in order to carve out a better future for all.

MUSA BANJA • September 4, 2023

In Harmony With Peace Concert

By Ann Beatty • June 1, 2026
On Friday evening ( 29 May, 7.00 pm The Actors Church Covent Garden) we had the pleasure of listening to this very special concert, bringing together the Choir of King's College London and the Princeton High School Orchestra in a celebration of international friendship, collaboration, and shared values. This project reflects a commitment to peace, sustainability, equality, and cultural exchange, uniting young musicians from the United Kingdom and the United States through the universal language of music.

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here