Upon receiving the official green flag award from the International Eco-Schools Network, the Coya High School Association has become the first educational establishment in the country to be a part of this ecological network, composed of more than 13000 schools throughout the world.
   

The president of the Institute of Political Ecology, Manuel Baquedano presented the award to the Coya High School Association together with the Minister of Education, Sergio Bitar and the mayor of Rancagua, Carlos Arellano Baeza. This award is an acknowledgment of the schools model for pioneer environmental education in the country and is an international symbol for universal compromise in student formation, in respect with the diversity of life and the protection of our planet.
   
The International Eco-School Programme is a promotional initiative of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a non-profit, non governmental organization, composed of more than 40 NGOs worldwide. Some of which are located in Canada, South Africa, and the Caribbean. Since 2003, the Institute of Political Ecology has represented FEE in Chile. The institute spreads and certifies this alternative form of ecological education in Chile.
   

Coya High School is the first school that has worked under the International Eco-School programme methodology and is the first educational establishment in the country to receive this award as well as The International Certification. With the certification and the green flag award, the Coya High School Association became a part of the International Eco-School Network along with more than 13000 other schools throughout the world.
   
According to Manuel Baquedano, the objective of the Eco-School Programme is to spread and utilize environmental education to promote sustainable development, and environmental certification of educational centres such as elementary schools, High Schools, and Universities. It has a participatory focus where participation leads to action. "This makes this Programme ideal in that each of the distinct educational centres can change their methodology of learning to an alternative form of development that involves the entire community, bringing us closer to sustainable development and to the care of our environment" he added. This ecological network attempts to increase student awareness in relation with the environment, complementing their education in the classroom with the work and/or action in the community.
   
With this initiative, Coya High School hopes to develop a high level of sensitivity and awareness in the community in order to contribute to cultural change through the promotion of responsible environmental conduct. They also wish to incorporate all of the values of the community, norms as well as motivations that promote environmental conservation.
   
Many diverse authorities attended this event such as the Minister of Education, Sergio Bitar, the Mayor of Rancagua, Carlos Arellano, the Director of the Political Ecology Institute, Manuel Baquedano, the Director of Greenpeace, Chile, Gonzalo Villarino, the Director of Coya High School Association, Lilia Flores Traterlo, and Representatives from the Eco-Schools Programme, among others.

(April 2005)

   
The week of 13-16 January was an important one for the development of Eco-Schools in Chile, which will be the first programme in the Americas! Following the participation of Ms Paola Giancaspero, national coordinator for Eco-Schools from the Santiago-based Instituto de Ecologia Politica (IEP, FEE Member for Chile) at the recent Eco-Schools International Conference in Dublin, as series of seminars and meetings were planned in Chile to start laying out the groundwork for the programme. Mr Sérgio Santos, Eco-Schools International Coordinator, was invited to participate in this important step towards the launch of the pilot project.
   
In addition to a teacher training and awareness seminar organised by IEP on 14/01 which included headteachers and teachers from the different extremities of Chile, the Ministry of Education and National Coordinating Institute for Environment (CONAMA) had organised a large international conference for teachers and organisations on Schools Environmental Certification and Sustainable Development, on the 15^th and 16^th. The Ministry of Education together with CONAMA had developed a national School Environmental Certification programme, which already involves many schools and is well supported with information, materials and a network, and which, at its base, is similar to Eco-Schools. Thus, discussions were ongoing as to how the programmes can be integrated in order to involve Chilean schools in the Eco-Schools international network. In this context, very positive meetings were held with representatives of the Ministry of Education, CONAMA, the Chilean International Cooperation Agency, and British Council in order to make a plan for the homologation of the programmes.

(January 2004)

   
This year the Institute of Political Ecology (IEP) was accepted as member of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). This step will allow us to implement the environmental programmes that FEE promotes. During this first year we will work to develop the Blue Flag Campaign and Eco-Schools.
   
The implementation of Eco-Schools in Chile is carried out in the context of the project of Local Sustainability Certification (LSC) which IEP is developing in some communes of the country. This project looks to motivate the creation of Local Agenda 21. Also the work will be done with the Chilean government, which, this year, has begun a pilot program to certify Environmental Education in schools, based on the experience of FEE’s Eco-Schools programme. Our objective is to unify both programmes in such way that those schools that fulfil the requirements of the government program and those characteristic of Eco-schools can obtain the Green Flag, recognition that will allow them to participate in this Net of Sustainable Schools and to develop their potential next to schools of other continents.
   
In Chile there are around 11.000 schools, located in rural and urban areas, of public, private and shared administration. There are more than 1.300 schools in the government’s pilot project plan at the moment; many of these will be the first candidates to obtain Eco-Schools Green Flags, during the year 2004, after our summer vacation.

(September 2003)