Need of Environmental Education

 

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ASSIGNMENT   NEED OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION   04-Aug-20   SREELAKSHMI A

 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Environmental education is a process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment. As a result, individuals develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible decision.

 The components of environmental education are:

1.          Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges

2.          Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges

3.          Attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain environmental quality

4.          Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges

5.          Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges

Environmental education does not advocate a particular viewpoint or course of action. Rather, environmental education teaches individuals how to weigh various sides of an issue through critical thinking and it enhances their own problem-solving and decision-making skills.

The way natural environment works and how humans should behave to manage ecosystem to sustain environment is part of the environmental education. It imparts the required skills and expertise to handle the associated challenges. The main focus of the study is to impart knowledge, create awareness, inculcate an attitude of concern and provide necessary skill to handle the environment and environmental challenges.

Environmental Education gained importance at global level after the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment, organized by UNESCO in 1972. Soon after this Conference, the UNESCO launched the International Environmental Education Program (IEEP).

 

Environment education does not mean mere acquisition of facts about environment. Rather, it means a positive change in affective domain towards environment.  The difference between environment education and environment information are listed below.

 

Environmental Education	Env   Environmental Information
Increases public awareness and knowledge of environmental issues	Provides facts or opinions about environmental issues
Does teach individuals critical-thinking	Does not necessarily teach individuals critical-thinking
Does enhance individuals' problem-solving and decision-making skills	Does not necessarily enhance individuals' problem-solving and decision-making skills
Does not advocate a particular viewpoint	May advocate a particular viewpoint

 

 

NEED OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Environment is degrading at a much faster pace than our imagination. Most of this mess is caused by human activities. The damage is both at global and regional level. Depletion of ozone layer and increase in the emission of greenhouse gas are the examples of the damage at global level whereas groundwater pollution, soil erosion are some of the regional consequences of human activities and their impact on environment.

Therefore whatsoever wrong has been done by us must be rectified by us only. To protect and manage environment it is imperative to have a sound environmental education. It is a way to teach people and societies on how to use the present and future resources optimally. Through environmental education they can gain knowledge to handle the fundamental issues leading to local pollution.

 

Every country is putting efforts to integrate environmental concerns with education. According to these countries, EE should not only be a part of the education system but also the political system where actions, policies and plans can be formulated and executed at national level.

 

Environmental education must be able to assess environmental situation and the conditions leading to the damage of the environment. EE must target the routine and how simple changes in a daily life can make a huge difference to the environment.

 

Protecting environment is the responsibility of everyone, hence environmental education cannot be confined to one group or society. Every individual must be prepared for saving the environment. It must be a continuous and a lifelong process. Above that environmental education must be practical so that teachings can be implemented directly.

 

Conserving nature and environment will be much easier if children are taught about depleting resources, environmental pollution, land sliding and degradation and extinction of plants and animals. Education is a sort of investment that turns into a valuable asset over a period of time.

 

Universities in India focus on teaching, research and training. In more than 20 Universities, different colleges and institutes courses in Environmental Engineering, Conservation and Management, Environmental Health and Social Sciences are taught.

 

To promote environmental awareness across the Nation, the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) was established in August 1984 with a support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. One of the tasks of the CEE is to put efforts to give due recognition to the role of environmental education. The CEE runs many Educational Programs in this regard.

 

Because of the societal shifts, today’s children are busy playing indoor games and electronic gadgets. They spend most of their time in watching Television, listening to music, playing video games or surfing Internet or using Computer. They have no time to travel around and to explore the natural world around them. This not only impacts the health of children but also detach them from their surroundings and nature. They are grown up into adults who are least bothered about conserving nature. Raising an environmentally educated generation is  also necessary because of the depleting of natural resources.

 

Students must be encouraged to understand their surroundings and a framework for action plan must be formulated. EE is the need of the day. It must encourage social participation. Hence integrating environment education into a curriculum is a wise option to connect students with the nature right from their childhood.

Environmental education is a process that aims at the development of environmentally literate citizens who can compete in global economy, who have the skills and knowledge and inclinations to make well informed choices concerning the environment, and who exercise the rights and responsibilities of the members of a community. Environmental knowledge contributes to an understanding and appreciation of the society, technology and productivity and conservation of natural and cultural resources of their own environment.

              Environmental education has an ability to solve the societal needs, the needs of a community problem and their solutions and workforce for tackling cooperative minds. We need the school children to share and develop the motivation from school about various environmental issues, which are the challenges of today and prepare them for the future.

              Environmental education must become a vehicle for engaging young minds in the excitement of first hand observation of the nature and understanding the patterns and processes in the natural and social worlds in order to take care of the habitat and its surroundings which becomes a major part of EE in both primary and upper primary stages of school education. In the secondary and senior secondary stages also some of the major issues such as environmental protection, management and conservation are to be dealt in more detail.

Primary stage

Environmental education is need in primary levels to provide following knowledge.

• Familiarization with one's own body

• Awareness about immediate surroundings;

• Need for food, water, air, shelter, clothing and recreation;

• Importance of trees and plants;

• Familiarization with local birds, animals and other objects;

• Interdependence of living and non-living things;

• Importance of cleanliness and sanitation;

• Importance of celebration of festivals and national days;

• Awareness of sunlight, rain and wind;

• Caring for pet animals;

• Awareness about air, water, soil and noise pollution;

• Need for the protection of environment;

• Knowledge about the source of energy;

• Importance of the conservation of water resources and forests and

• Indigenous and traditional knowledge about the protection of environment.

The textbooks lay emphasis on raising awareness levels and sensitizing children about environmental concerns. Emphasis has also been laid on the need to organize learning in local specific contexts, which will provide more meaningful experiences to children. Aspects of indigenous knowledge have also been introduced. There are references and suggestions for conducting activities in and outside the classroom. The NCERT textbooks for environmental studies generally take a comprehensive view of the natural, physical, social and cultural environment.

It is evident that the textbooks represent relevant ideas commensurate with the age and developmental level of children so as to provide them the necessary understanding about their immediate environment. However, there is a scope for inclusion of more activities to enable children to translate awareness into effective behavioral action.

 

Upper Primary stage

The contents of environmental education taught in upper primary level is an extension and elaboration of the concepts introduced at the primary stage. Environmental education is provided at upper primary levels to provide following knowledge.

• Adaptation of living beings in environment

• Natural resources

• Water cycle

• Food chain

• Importance of plants and trees in keeping the environment clean

• Classification of plants

• Role of plants and animals in environmental balance and soil conservation

• Ecosystems

• Necessity of clean air for healthy living

• Animals and their characteristics

• Effects of environmental pollution and the consequences of air pollution-(i) Greenhouse effect, (ii) Ozone layer depletion and, (iii) increase in carbon dioxide

• Role of microorganisms in the environment

• Dependence of the community on the environment

• Basic knowledge about the Earth and its atmosphere

• Physical features of the country

• Population and environment

• Care and protection of livestock

• Necessity of wildlife protection

• Impact of deforestation

• Impact of industrialization on environment and

• Role of civic society in protection of the environment, personal and public property including monuments.

While most of the areas of EE have generally been covered, there is a need for the inclusion of more individual and group activities and project work in order to promote both the effective and cognitive domains of learning. Co-scholastic activities including organisation of plays, cultural programs, debates, mock parliament, discussions and community activities may help further in achieving the objective.

SECONDARY STAGE

The concepts of EE have been provided in the textbooks of science and social sciences physical science, biological sciences and geography. The environmental concepts here taught are at concrete and abstract levels. The concepts covered are:

• Biosphere

• Greenhouse effect

• Ozone layer depletion

• Use of fertilisers and pesticides

• Wildlife protection

• Soil chemistry

• Management of domestic and industrial waste

• Pollution of noise, air, water ad soil and control measures

• Ecosystem

• Management of non-degradable substances

• Edible and ornamental plants

• Sewage disposal and cleaning of rivers

• Nuclear energy

• Radiation hazards

• Gas leak

• Wind power

• Bio-energy and

• Environmental laws and acts.

• Environmental concepts also extend to subject areas like languages and social sciences, which reinforce learning and internalization of all such concepts.

Higher Secondary Stage

This is the stage of diversification. Students opt for either the academic stream or the vocational stream. The treatment of concepts becomes deeper and more discipline oriented since the content caters to the demands of the concerned subject, as an independent discipline a comprehensive view about EE is not available in the textbooks. Majority of the concepts are found in the textbooks of biology, chemistry and geography, which are optional subjects. Students opting for any one of these subjects would accordingly benefit in different aspects of EE.

The coverage of EE concepts in the textbooks of various subjects includes:

• Environment and sustainable development;

• Atmospheric pollution- global warming,

• Greenhouse effect,

• Acid rain,

• Ozone layer depletion;

• Water pollution- international standards of drinking water,

• Importance of dissolved oxygen in water,

• Bio-chemical oxygen demand,

• Chemical oxygen demand,

• Land pollution,

• Pesticides,

• Ecology.

CONCLUSION

School is second home of learning after home. A child is introduced to a new environment and began to develop his social life by contact in a situation where he meet parental like care by his teacher and homely friends of School inmates. A lots of strange activities start take place in child's life and begin to grow with what he sees and learned in school.

Environmental studies as a subject must lead pupils from their immediate perception and experience to a wider understandings. It must develop their capacity to go beyond the anecdotal and the particular. Non of that happen by chance. School curriculum and subject contents deal with is an interplay between child and his environment.

Providing environmental studies through different subjects give insight to the child. Pupils must learn about many phenomena in order to understand complex environmental aspects within our own specific limit.

Environment is for our children's future, hence, concrete foundation to visualize the eminent future for upcoming generation, what need to be done to reduce the damages we do to it, what opportunity and feasible there in for improving the quality of our environmental conditions to coup with practical solution. Pupils should draw on what they learn at school and discussed.