“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.”
— Albert Schweitzer
HEAL - Humane Education for All Life
Humane Education teaches compassion towards all living beings.
A Humane Education Programme for Primary Schools.
Inspiring children to create a more compassionate world.
Everyone agrees that the world could do with more love and understanding, and less violence and cruelty. An active step towards creating that world is humane education.
Humane education leads children to understand and appreciate how our planet’s diverse environments, people and animals are all connected, related and interdependent. It helps them empathise with other living things, put themselves in another person’s shoes, or see the world through another creature’s eyes. It fosters a culture of caring and sharing. It gives the next generation the wisdom and understanding to form a compassionate and just society.
Humane education benefits everyone—children, animals and the earth.
When you teach children to be kind to animals, it’s not just animals that benefit.
Studies show that compassion towards animals in early life is linked to compassion towards people in later life. Kind, considerate children inevitably become kind, considerate adults. And they continue to expand their circle of compassion to include their neighbourhood, their community, their country, their natural environment and their planet.
HEAL Inspiring hundreds of Singaporean children every year.
HEAL presentation at Cedar Primary School.
Children love to learn about animals’ lives, lives that are so fascinatingly different from our own. But little do our little ones realise the power they themselves have to affect those animals’ lives, by their daily actions, both thoughtless and thoughtful.
The ACRES HEAL programme encourages our Singaporean children to use their power for good—to act positively, to live thoughtfully, to save the natural environments, protect the weak and the voiceless, nurture the web of life, and make it richer, stronger, ever more beautiful.
Designed to fit the curriculum. And customisable to the school’s needs.
The HEAL programme comes in four customisable modules. It includes a Teacher’s Pack for all the teachers, with background information on all the topics covered, as well as plenty of ideas for follow-up lessons and classroom activities.
All Modules, lesson plans and activities tie in with the school curriculum, primarily in the areas of Civics and Moral Education and Science. Those contained in the Teacher’s Pack link widely to other subjects, ranging from English to Art and Craft.
Modules 1-3: interactive modules in your school.
Interactive skit on "Threats to Rainforest Animals and their Habitat" at Global Indian International School.
The first three modules can be delivered either to the entire school during assembly time, or to smaller classes. Our educational roadshow, with its engaging exhibits on wildlife protection, can be set up at your school to accompany these modules.
The modules themselves are in the form of interactive talks, presentations, skits and cartoons. They cover the following topics:
- Animals as sentient beings
- Threats to rainforest animals and their habitats
- The wildlife trade
- Making a difference (a motivational talk).
Module 4: A trip to the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC).
Students from German European School at ACRES learning about native wildlife at the Outdoor Conservation Classroom.
Students from Red Swastika School completing worksheets on native wildlife.
The last module is a visit to the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre (AWRC), where the children learn about ACRES’ wildlife rescue efforts, and how they can get involved. At our Outdoor Conservation Classroom, they get to know Singapore’s owls, pangolins, colugos and other precious native wildlife, and what it takes to protect these creatures. Naturally, this module is for smaller groups.
A proven positive impact.
ACRES roadshow at Cedar Primary School.
Studies show that after going through the HEAL Programme, children become a lot more aware of how they can help animals, people and the environment. Comparison of questionnaires given to students both before and after participating in the HEAL Programme reveals a substantial increase in knowledge about animal and environmental protection issues following participation, as well as a higher percentage of students indicating empathy towards others.
What the teachers say.
“It was just wonderful, so we thank you all enormously. These little people are now even more passionate about saving animals. You all did a tremendous job with the presentation.”
Susan Blanche, Teacher, German European School Singapore.
"We were impressed by how the HEAL programme was designed in a spiral, progressive manner — first educating the students on the key issues, then culminating in opportunities for activism. I believe what they have learnt is something they will remember for a long time to come. The interactive talk is a really good concept and the messages were very clearly conveyed and reiterated. Feedback from the kids is that they really enjoyed it and many of them are declaring that they want to be ‘wildlife protectors’.”
Miss Marianne Ha, Pastoral Care Co-ordinator, Cedar Primary School.
Contact us
To learn more about the ACRES HEAL Programme, please get in touch with Amy Corrigan, Director of Education, ACRES. You can email Amy at: amy@acres.org.sg
To download details about the HEAL Programme click here.
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