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In April 2004, the Supreme Court made environment education a separate compulsory subject, and in March 2007, Council for Indian School Certificate
Examination (CISCE) conducted its first board examination.
So, we decided to ask a few environment education teachers what they think about the direction the subject has taken in schools. Here is what they
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| Q. Do you find teaching environment difficult? |
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 DEEPTI NEELAKANTAN
Environment Awareness and Outreach Programme Coordinator
Vasant Valley School, Vasant Kunj
I guess the main challenge is to get Environmental Awareness into the minds of people directly or indirectly connected to the school, and into our daily chores. This sometimes becomes difficult considering the magnitude of various activities carried out in the school. But with persistent measures, this problem is taken care of.
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 SHEETAL BAGATI
Environment Education Teacher
Salwan Public School,
Gurgaon,
Haryana
It becomes slightly challenging due to the non-participation and negligence of parents, friends, relatives and peer groups. It is being managed by using the technique of learning through activities, and by giving project assignments to students during holidays involving participation of parents. GSP has been a major facilitator.
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 PREMLATA CHOUDHARY
Enviroment teacher
Salwan Public School A
Old Rajinder Nagar,
New Delhi
I do not find it difficult, as I’m an environment teacher for the last seven years. Environment involves emotional teaching with field trips, hands-on experience and facts. The students are sensitive enough to understand the importance of environment and are ready to do their own bit to save our planet. The committment of the management is of great help.
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| Q. Should the subject have a regular board examination? |
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No, because the moment EA will become a board or grading subject, the students will lose interest and will take it as a chore. It will no longer be fun. The teachers will have no flexibility to incorporate activities, trips, excursions, workshops and seminars, as they will have to focus on finishing the “syllabus”. EA will lose its charm and become like any other subject.
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It would be helpful to a great deal especially in a country like ours. The academic set up that we have would make it mandatory for the students to be more involved and engaged in the subject and thus, environment as a whole. However, the same alone would not suffice. It would need to be accompanied by more regular project works and hands-on activities.
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The committment of the management is of great help. It must have a regular board exam. This is because students do not tend to take the subject seriously if it has no exams attached to it. It must have some weightage for written exam and some for the practical or field visits. This step will make environment an integral part of the school curriculum and every one will start taking environment more seriously.
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| Q. Should the schools have a specialised environment teacher? |
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There should be a full-time EA teacher in every school. He/she need not be specialised, as EA is about your passion and interest for the subject. It is about how deeply you feel for the environment and whether you practice what you preach. But yes, additional qualifi-
cation in the field of ecology and environment would always help. |
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As it was not a mainstream subject till now, it would be of paramount importance to have specialised faculty to ensure clear basics.
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Gobar Times invites readers to share and seek information about Green Schools at eeu@cseindia.org or write to
Environment Education Unit Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlaqabad Insititutional Area, New Delhi-110062 |
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Though we all know Hindi, there is a specific teacher for the subject to clear the concepts very technically. Similarly, environment is a specialised stream with many technical aspects involved. Thus, only a specialised teacher must teach this subject. |
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What are your replies to these questions?
Send them to us by email at: panditji@cseindia.org |
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