Environmental Education in Secondary Schools in Pune City

Background: Environment pollution in different form continues to trouble us. Environmental education makes it possible for us to understand the clear outcome of human activity on the environment. National curriculum framework for school education-2000 mentions, that the environmental education is need to be included at all levels of schooling. Aim: To study how environmental education is imparted to the students in various schools of Pune city and to find the teacher's perception on Environmental education. Materials&methods: Teachers of Environmental science for std.8th&9th from 35 randomly selected schools from 4 different boards from Pune City were interviewed with the help of a structured questionnaire. The study was carried out in March 2008 as a part of the green games initiative of commonwealth youth games, Pune. Teachers were asked about the curriculum in environment science for grade 8th and 9th, total teaching hours, methodology and subject evaluation. Results: 85% teachers have expressed that there is scope of improvement in existing teaching learning process of the subjects. 68% of EVS teachers from SSC board had received training as compared to 100% teachers from CBSE and IB. Average teaching time for the subject was 2hrs/ week. On being interviewed with the help of a structured questionnaire teachers suggested that emphasis on action based projects, training of teachers, subject evaluation based on interventions by student, more greening of textbooks, formation of eco-clubs in schools, use of information technology and help from external agencies will definitely improve the quality of environmental education.