The ability to develop a feel for the
environment, curiosity, inquisitiveness, urge to explore and care -
it is all there in the child. So, the focus of environment education
should be to preserve and sharpen these qualities in the child by
providing suitable learning and experiencing opportunities.
The question that arises is - When do we start
? Where do we start and what do we start with ?
For the first question - my answer is as soon
as the child starts school or even earlier. This is from my
experience of running an environment club in a school for over a
decade. Students initiated environmental activities when they were
just in their teens. I found that most of them could talk, write and
debate about various environmental issues, win prizes etc. They talk
about why people should not litter and continue littering with
papers, wrappers etc. They talk of conservation of energy but do not
switch off the lights and fans when not in use and generally are not
sensitive to the environment. It takes a very long time for the
attitudinal change, the behavioural change to take place. So we need
to START EARLY!
Can a textbook be the medium for Environmental
Education ? We all know, the answer is a big ‘No’. So, what is
really required ?
Environmental education has to be an
activity-based campaign. The activities should :
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be easily doable
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have steps that are easy to understand
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lead to simple conclusions
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relate to the immediate environment of the
child |
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encourage students to observe and explore
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give the child an experience of small
parts of the environment which could be later built into a
larger mosaic |
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help in understanding
relationships in nature and between human beings and nature
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The teacher is the key to the whole
teaching-learning process in Environmental Education. We need to
redefine the role of teachers. A teacher's role is not that of
transferring information but of being a facilitator, a leader and a
resource person. The learning process should be participatory so
that it leaves an everlasting impression and is more fun for the
students and teachers, rather than being an additional burden.
What does the reforming / redesigning of
environmental education mean and what does it involve and who are
the important role players? Organisations like NCERT, CBSE and the
concerned government departments have prescribed a syllabus, course
material (text books and teachers manual) for environmental
education, to be used by educational institutions. But these have
been inadequate due to the following reasons :
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Written in the same lines as any other
course text book |
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Very few doable experiments and hands-on
activities |
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Not interactive |
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Not interesting |
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No clear frame work and approach that the
teachers could use to develop activities based on their local
environment and opportunities |
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No value addition for students
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What use is the study of chemistry, biology or
environmental education if you can’t find how good is the water you
drink or how good is the air you breathe and help in taking action
for improvements and provide solutions whether it be water and
energy conservation, or proper management of waste, etc. ?
The CLEAN-India programme addresses many of
the gaps in environment education making it more meaningful and
useful. First it enriches the school curriculum by giving practical
and scientific exposure to the students. The students are trained
and then conduct systematic assessment and documentation of the
environmental quality of their respective city or town. The science,
technology and the tools, are not only simplified but are also made
interesting so that the students are able to relate to it easily.
Whereas students study about the global environment, etc. in
their school, through CLEAN-India they are able to understand,
assess and even improve the local environment. Thus over a
period of time , a learning process is imbibed in students, that
helps them draw up linkages between various aspects like human
interference, environment quality and human health.
Also conveying the environmental issues,
interactive and creative techniques like theatre, workshops, games,
field trips are employed which build and enhance the communication,
interpersonal and over all contemplating and analytical abilities of
students. Gradually with experience, many students are now equipped
with enough confidence and determination to be able to move out into
the community and explain and even provide solutions to
environmental concerns.
It
is has always been difficult to assess the impact of education
immediately. In my case, I still have ex- students coming up to me
and telling me that what they did at school is making more sense now
after ten years. So, one never knows when education pays back. The
real success of the CLEAN-India programme is visible in the
seemingly simple acts like: when students exchange books in a new
academic session, thus indirectly save paper and thereby also the
trees; switching off lights before leaving their classrooms; closing
a flowing tap even in public places. The achievement of CLEAN-India
is exemplified most when students opt for future studies in subjects
related to environmental sciences and more so when they continue to
be environmentally sensitive and active even in the diverse fields
they opt for.