Time for syllabus to go green

Environmental education at schools in India is restricted to light-hearted workshops on special days like Earth Day. We need to teach students to explore issues and solve problems of the earth’s environment.

NT Features

What if the Indian government told you that you couldn’t start secondary or high school unless you had planted a tree? Well, how about 10 trees? This has now become the law on the island of the Philippines. The legislation could enable 175 million new trees to be planted each year and the government also hopes it will bring more awareness about the environment for future generations and pave the way for better ecological initiatives.

Do you remember doing any such activities back in your school days or was your share of helping the environment restricted to making posters with big slogans on World Environment Day?

It’s going to be a month since the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) hosted by the United Kingdom ended. And educationists across the country have made calls for massive reforms in environmental education in Indian schools. School principals have said that the current curriculum covering the environment is only about making posters of earth surrounded by fuming smoke. Earth Day is celebrated by making projects but the students rarely learn how to implement them in their day-to-day life. Several school heads have said there must be an upgrade from the inadequate class projects and students must be sensitised about the current global climate scenario.

“Real climate science and education are absolutely essential in schools. Students need to gain a thorough understanding about climate change and the fact that it is likely the greatest challenge our species is going to face for the foreseeable future”, says a science teacher.

Environmental education must be integrated into the whole system of formal education at all. “This doesn’t mean regurgitating alarmist talking points or empty virtue-signaling”, says she. In fact, educationalists feel that environmental education must adopt a holistic perspective that will examine the ecological, social, cultural, and other aspects of specific problems. “Students must be imparted with a scientific understanding of climate change and energy generation, as well as economics, particularly macroeconomics, so that they can be equipped to help in figuring out innovative solutions to the challenges facing our species as they enter the labour force”, she adds. Most importantly, environmental education should be centered on practical problems related to life.

While students are taught about the concepts and definitions of pollution, global warming and climate change and also how to prevent them, what the curriculum lacks is practicality. When it comes to implementation, students do not consider them in their daily lives.

Educationists have expressed their concerns regarding students not practising what they learn at home or in other social spaces. Minute tasks like reusing the water used to wash vegetables to water plants, turning off fans and lights when not required, using paper bags can make a huge difference. Some schools have taken a leap forward to make their institutions environmentally friendly by initiating plastic-free zones.

But is this enough? Schools can also appoint green ambassadors from among the students to take charge of a ‘green army’. They can also introduce a green parameter of assessment in the annual progress card, upon which the children can be graded. Either way, the curriculum must incorporate teachings of implementation which is the need of the hour.