We are one of the leading educational institutions in Turkey with approximately 1800 students from different age groups and nearly 550 teachers and colleagues.
We are one of the leading educational institutions in Turkey with approximately 1800 students from different age groups and nearly 550 teachers and colleagues.The concept of “sustainable development”, a development model that can meet the needs of today’s generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, emerged towards the end of the 20th century and turned into a global action plan with international agreements signed in the 1990s. Sustainable development embodies a common vision for a better life that meets everyone’s basic needs and aspirations by setting “sustainability” as the common denominator in the economic and social development goals of countries. Implementing a development strategy that fails to recognize the relationship between the environment and socioeconomic development may meet current needs, but may jeopardize meeting people’s basic needs in the future. As past experience has shown, ensuring equal access to development opportunities for current and future generations, taking into account the holistic interaction between economic, social structures and the environment, is at the heart of the philosophy of sustainable development.
The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, approved on September 25, 2015, following a two-year global consultation with non-governmental organizations, scientists, academics, and citizens from around the world, includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Approved by the United Nations General Assembly, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a shared vision and action plan for all countries around the world.
The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda aims to eradicate poverty, end hunger, reduce inequalities, and improve the quality of life in areas such as education, health, clean water, and job opportunities. It also seeks to strike a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability.
These global goals promote sustainable development around the world through a broad and holistic approach that encompasses both developed and developing countries. Each goal addresses a specific problem and envisages concrete steps to be taken to address it.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is planned to be implemented with the cooperation and contributions of the international community, governments, civil society organizations, the private sector and other stakeholders. This agenda emphasizes global cooperation and joint action and provides a roadmap for a more equitable, balanced and sustainable future worldwide.
Açı Schools, by adopting the principles of sustainable development, aims to cultivate students’ awareness of sustainability, enhance their global responsibilities, and motivate them to take action for a sustainable world with this sense of responsibility.
As Açı Schools, we aim to teach our students to use natural resources efficiently, starting from the youngest age groups, and to minimize their ecological footprint throughout all processes.
Consumption beyond the need and without considering the environmental impact jeopardizes equal access to food, depletes natural resources such as energy, water and air, and creates piles of garbage. The aim of the Green Generation Restaurant Project, which was launched and carried out in cooperation with Boğaziçi University and WWF-Turkey in the 2017-2018 academic year, is to lead change by focusing on this main problem.
In order to give the right approach and values to our future generations, we, as Açı Schools Sarıyer Campus, took part in this project in the 2017-2018 academic year and experienced the whole process with our students. As the “first school” to take part in this project, we wish to be a pioneer for all other schools, and we added our green office project in our high school in the 2019-2020 academic year.
In 2018, our school teachers were trained on “Sustainability Literacy” by Dr. Ahmet Aydemir. Following this, we explored curriculum development initiatives that focus on instilling sustainability principles across a range of subjects and grade levels. We aimed to raise a generation of informed global citizens capable of addressing complex societal and environmental challenges by aligning our teaching strategies with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and embarked on curriculum development efforts to further enrich existing practices.
We continue our efforts to enhance the educational journey with a sustainability perspective.
As an institution that is sensitive about a sustainable world and strives to pay its debt to nature, we established a composting center on our campus in September 2019. In the process that started with composting around 10 kg of organic waste generated in our dining hall, we aimed to increase the system to a level that could compost 30 kg of organic waste per day, and we achieved our goal.
Our initiative, which involves including students from various elective courses in informative sessions, has gradually ensured that all students, teachers, and staff in our preschool, elementary, and middle school divisions are educated about composting.
Our efforts not only contribute to reducing waste, but also serve as a learning opportunity for our students. We will continue to foster a culture of environmental responsibility and sustainability in our campus community.
We are happy to announce that one of our 7th grade students, A. Altun, has been conducting research on the efficient and sustainable use of water resources during the pandemic. Focusing on rainwater harvesting systems, Altun implemented a rainwater harvesting system at our school with the resumption of face-to-face classes. The system is used to irrigate the plants in our greenhouse. By setting an example, it has been used as a model for students from pre-school to secondary school on the importance and applications of rainwater harvesting. Congratulations to our students for their contribution to nature and our school.
Our greenhouse in our Sarıyer campus is used as an important tool for different student groups in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools to grow plants and thus realize nature, plants and our connection with the soil and nature. Our students at different levels gain knowledge and experience about sustainable agriculture practices with different types of plants grown using compost obtained from our school’s cafeteria waste and water obtained from rainwater harvesting, and share what they have learned with all their friends at school.
As Sarıyer Açı Secondary School Environment Committee, one of our primary goals is to raise our students’ awareness about sustainable and ecological living. In this context, we are planning some special activities within the scope of this week, which has been in our program since 2021. Within the scope of the week, we aim to raise awareness of our students about what they can do for a sustainable world with interviews, morning chats, recess activities, workshops, plant planting and recognition workshops, ecological bazaar, in-class and extracurricular activities specific to the week.
Since 2012, we have been continuing our cooperation with ÇEKÜL Foundation with our annual “7 Trees for My City” campaign. As of 2022, we expanded our initiative by setting a new goal and decided to create our Açı Forest. We are very happy to share that 4,500 trees have been donated to our Açı Forest, located in Bandırma, Sahil Yenice, with a minimum target of 10,000 trees, for this noble purpose.
The main objective of this project is to raise awareness on the importance of balanced use and protection of vital resources. By encouraging a re-evaluation of our consumption habits, we aim to develop a greater sense of responsibility towards our environment. Each of the 7 trees planted represents the amount of natural resources consumed by an individual in a year. Through ÇEKÜL 7 Tree Forests, we provide the opportunity to give back to nature by replacing the same number of trees we consume every year.
To make a significant impact on environmental sustainability by joining our campaign, please visit https://fonzip.com/cekul/kampanya/aci-ormani .
As Açı Schools, it has always been our priority to approach our planet with sensitivity, to move forward with creative learning methods and to adopt sustainable lifestyles. In this context, we are happy to share with you an exciting project that we have imagined for our school community and started the process. In line with our commitment to our planet and sustainable lifestyles, we decided in May 2023 to transform the Wake-Up Cafe building on our high school campus into an ecological building.
In October 2023, this ambitious and massive endeavor was spearheaded by a dedicated group of 17 volunteer high school students who are passionate about making a positive impact on the environment and are also leaning towards architecture or engineering as their career choice. Their goal is not only to transform the cafeteria into an eco-friendly space, but also to inspire and engage our entire student community in this journey towards sustainability.
Dr. Nilüfer Özak (PhD), who has exemplified to students how architectural design, innovation, functionality and social benefit can be brought together and emphasized that social impacts, environmental sustainability, cultural values and local traditions are the cornerstones of design. In our project report, you can find the details of our 2023-2024 academic year courses in which our students were provided with an inspiring perspective on how building design can play a critical role in improving the quality of life of the society beyond being just a physical entity. Please follow our steps for next year to further expand the awareness we have created.