"School Leaders' Challenges in Establishing Green Schools: A Perspective Study"

Abstract

Climate change has become a menace to the living creatures on Earth. Addressing the issue is a challenging task that needs a multifaceted approach.  Educational institutes have a major role to play in the mitigation and adaptation of climate change. For this purpose, a study was carried out to know the perspectives of school administrators about challenges in Greening Schools”.  The study adopted a qualitative approach. Census sampling was done.  Participants of the study were all the school leaders of the Federal Directorate of Education. Out of 432 school leaders, 315 (73%) responded to the open-ended questionnaire administered through Google Survey forms. Data were thematically analyzed through NVIVO 14. Codes were developed to see the patterns, make comparisons, and identify relationships among the sub-themes and the main themes to answer the research question. The results revealed that the leadership has financial and physical constraints, besides having community and stakeholder engagement issues.  It was concluded that the successful implementation of green school initiatives is hindered by educational constraints, lack of community engagement, inadequate infrastructure, environmental challenges, and insufficient teacher and student support. It was recommended to comprehensively address the curriculum integration, community engagement, infrastructure development, financial support, teacher training, student involvement, and progress monitoring that enable schools to successfully implement green initiatives.