Education is proving to be one of the most empowering tools for resilience as climate challenges continue to intensify. In India and Taiwan, whose cooperation is supported by technology and a mutual commitment to innovation, education has the potential to serve as a link for climate cooperation.
Both countries face climate impacts that cannot be ignored. India is experiencing record-breaking heat, irregular monsoons, and stress on food and water systems. Taiwan, susceptible to typhoons and rising sea levels, is undergoing a challenging energy transition. These problems differ from one region to another, but share a common critical urgency. In such a situation, the need for knowledge is essential to understand risks, adapt to changes and raise a generation that would think critically about the future of the planet.
Education rooted in sustainability provides that foundation. Taiwan has had climate literacy in its national curriculum since 2001. Children learn about renewable energy, recycling and disaster preparedness from the very beginning through engaging projects and activities. Instructors receive training in sustainability, and schools work with local governments to carry out eco-friendly initiatives.
Compulsory education on the environment has been implemented in India in a graded way since 2004. Currently, schools are promoting eco-clubs and the green campus concept, thereby establishing a connection between classroom lessons and local activities. Nevertheless, the implementation across India’s vast educational landscape remains uneven and requires stronger institutional support.
Taiwan-India collaboration could create real benefits. The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) in New Delhi and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taipei support research and academic exchanges through the Academia Collaboration Programme. Expanding this focus to climate education would advance Sustainable Development Goal 4, quality education, and Sustainable Development Goal 13, climate action.
The exchange of teachers, codesigning of the curriculum and collaborative research could be tools that on the one hand inform, and on the other enhance climate literacy. Integrating sustainability into the daily teaching practices of Taiwanese educators could be a useful method, especially considering the real-world applications of community-based environmental learning, a concept that Indian academics could share. Such collaboration could enable both sides to jointly produce multilingual digital modules that facilitate community access to climate information and address local issues in understandable formats.
Technology could boost this partnership. Taiwan’s strengths in precision and hardware manufacturing, paired with India’s capabilities in software innovation and digital infrastructure, could produce virtual labs that simulate renewable energy systems. Such initiatives would help in open-access local climate risk mapping, including remote areas of India, through the country’s SWAYAM and DIKSHA platforms.
The role of the universities continues to strengthen collaboration. Along with the concept of sustainability, the relationship between semiconductors and green technology was an important point of discussion in the Taiwan-India Higher Education Leaders Forum this year. Now, universities can easily come up with plans to launch joint postgraduate programs on renewable energy and environmental communication. Taiwan-India research partnerships funded through the Ministry of Education and the ICSSR could focus on areas like low-carbon manufacturing, green finance, and adaptation of coastal and agricultural regions.
Education could foster empathy, a key motivating factor that drives people to act on climate change. Taiwan’s community energy cooperatives and India’s watershed programs have shown the way to sustainability through the involvement of local people. Virtual school exchanges and youth climate forums can link these experiences. Once students from Taiwan and India collaborate on solar projects and discuss water conservation, the issue of climate change ceases to be a scientific problem and becomes rather a shared human experience.
Building this cooperation would require persistence. Differences in language, policy frameworks and institutional capacity need patient coordination. Governments must provide funding, accreditation and review systems that give these efforts continuity beyond political changes. Yet, these tasks are manageable, while the potential advantages are great. Education lays a foundation for a climate partnership that fosters technical skills and moral responsibility.
In a divided world, education remains a rare neutral ground for dialogue. It promotes curiosity over ideology and understanding over disagreement. Through the shared study of sustainability in schools, students from both countries are not only environmental science pupils; they are also gaining the skills essential for global citizenship. By linking quality education and climate action, India and Taiwan have the potential to be the leaders who set the example, showing that the way to climate resilience is through schools, research centers, and young minds that can see a better future.
Sutandra Singha is an independent researcher with a doctorate in international studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi specializing in climate change.
Chinese state-owned companies COSCO Shipping Corporation and China Merchants have a 30 percent stake in Kaohsiung Port’s Kao Ming Container Terminal (Terminal No. 6) and COSCO leases Berths 65 and 66. It is extremely dangerous to allow Chinese companies or state-owned companies to operate critical infrastructure. Deterrence theorists are familiar with the concepts of deterrence “by punishment” and “by denial.” Deterrence by punishment threatens an aggressor with prohibitive costs (like retaliation or sanctions) that outweigh the benefits of their action, while deterrence by denial aims to make an attack so difficult that it becomes pointless. Elbridge Colby, currently serving as the Under
The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday last week said it ordered Internet service providers to block access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書, also known as RedNote in English) for a year, citing security risks and more than 1,700 alleged fraud cases on the platform since last year. The order took effect immediately, abruptly affecting more than 3 million users in Taiwan, and sparked discussions among politicians, online influencers and the public. The platform is often described as China’s version of Instagram or Pinterest, combining visual social media with e-commerce, and its users are predominantly young urban women,
Most Hong Kongers ignored the elections for its Legislative Council (LegCo) in 2021 and did so once again on Sunday. Unlike in 2021, moderate democrats who pledged their allegiance to Beijing were absent from the ballots this year. The electoral system overhaul is apparent revenge by Beijing for the democracy movement. On Sunday, the Hong Kong “patriots-only” election of the LegCo had a record-low turnout in the five geographical constituencies, with only 1.3 million people casting their ballots on the only seats that most Hong Kongers are eligible to vote for. Blank and invalid votes were up 50 percent from the previous
Alarm bells over a “hollowing out” of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and US demands for “protection money” have fueled a panic over Taiwan. To understand how misplaced these fears are, consider the movements of global technology giants. Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) could undoubtedly understand the situation best, and they continue to make key investments in Taiwan. They do not make decisions on a whim. They are the architects of global computing power strategy and possess the highest levels of industry knowledge. No
RSS