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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.
