Riyadh:The Greening Education Partnership (GEP) Secretariat has confirmed that the accreditation system of the UNESCO Regional Centre for Quality and Excellence in Education (RCQE) in Saudi Arabia aligns with UNESCO's Green School Quality Standard. This alignment allows schools accredited by RCQE to be recognized as GEP schools, enhancing global sustainability efforts in education.
According to Saudi Press Agency, the RCQE has developed the Arab Regional Network for Green School Quality to bolster sustainability, increase schools' resilience to climate change, and enhance education quality across Arab nations. The quality framework includes areas such as leadership, governance, physical environment, resources, teaching, learning, evaluation, and improvement, with 12 standards and 34 indicators.
The framework evaluates schools through self and external evaluations, accreditation, and continuous monitoring to ensure comprehensive sustainability standards. This initiative spans 22 Arab countries, with a pilot phase involving up to 15 schools per country. RCQE collaborates with national education authorities and UNESCO National Commissions to support implementation and knowledge exchange.
RCQE emphasized that school nominations for the pilot phase differ from completing the accreditation process. The RCQE Accreditation Scheme will feature in the GEP Tracker under Greening Schools and relevant country pages. This strengthens regional and international quality assurance ties and supports the GEP's aim to transform 50% of schools into green schools by 2030.
