Capacity Building for Hands-on Environmental Learning Programme under Environment Education in School System

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India has appointed Indian Environmental Society as an implementing agency for the Program namely capacity Building for Hands-on Environmental Learning Programme under EESS Programme. The programme was implemented in sixteen states of the country (8 states during phase 1 and another 8 states during Phase 2) The states selected are Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Kerala, Karnataka, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, and Tripura. The goal of the programme is to provide effective Environmental Education in Indian School Systems, which translate knowledge into action and leads to participatory environmental conservation.

The Programme: Background and Objectives

Keeping in view the importance of environmental education, efforts have been made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India (along with other stakeholders) for revitalizing environmental concepts in schools with the objective of strengthening environmental education in the school system. With this objective, project has been conceptualised for greening the curricula and textbooks at the school level in the states of India.

While the Ministry of Environment and Forests is undertaking programmes for greening the school curricula, there is an urgent need to provide scope for hands-on environmental learning activities. Properly planned hands-on environmental learning activities can help to enrich, vitalize, and complement content areas of the school curriculum, and at the same time it can contribute to the local capacity building process. In this backdrop, the Society is implementing the project entitled ‘Capacity Building for Hands-on Environmental Education in School System. Initially, the project is implemented only in eight states of the country (Maharashtra, Assam, Uttranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Punjab, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh). This year, the project is extended to 8 additional states of the country (Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Tripura).
The goal of the program is to promote effective environmental education in Indian School System, which translate knowledge into action and leads to participatory environmental conservation.

The objectives of the programme are as follows:

• To enhance human resource and institutional infrastructure for promoting hands-on environmental learning opportunity;
• To build up student’s capabilities to use latest environmental research tools and techniques and use of information technology;
• To gather information on local environmental status from different geographical areas of the country which in turn contribute to Global Environmental Assessment;
• To foster multi-sectoral collaboration for protection of environment through involvement of students, teachers, and local as well as international community; and
• To vitalize and enrich the content areas of the school curriculum through hands-on environmental learning activities.

Progress during the Year

The Society has implemented the project in sixteen states of the country (Maharashtra, Assam, Uttranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Punjab, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Tripura). 32 GLOBE Teachers Training Workshops were organized by the Society in all the 8 pilot states (2 workshops in each state). The Society has also provided instrument kits to the participating schools for carrying out the programme in their respective schools. Some of the schools have already started with the data collection and data reporting.

The Society has also prepared the resource material (GLOBE Teachers’ Manual, Cloud Chart, Soil Chart, MUC guide etc.). The resource material prepared by the Society was distributed among the participants during the workshops to enrich their learning experience. The Society has also brought one brochure for promoting the hands-on programme. The Society has developed the website www.globeindia.org to disseminate the information related to the programme, which was inaugurated by Shri Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, Hon’ble Vice President of India.

The programme has enhanced the capacity of students in carrying out the experimental programmes and has also facilitated activities and action projects to address local environmental issues through hands-on environmental education. The programme has also helped students in improving their understanding and observation skills by involving them in performing experiments and analysing data.

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