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« on: June 21, 2010, 09:17:34 AM »
Formal Education: Currently environmental education is offered in primary schools. Primary education is compulsory for five years. To encourage education of girls in rural areas they pay no tuition fees up to grade. An integrated subject called Environmental Studies was been introduced into the primary and junior secondary syllabus in 1978.
The syllabus of Environmental Studies for grade 3, includes the causes and effects of degradation of the environment, the importance and methods of conservation, prevention of waste and pollution and conservation of water resources (Sharafuddin, 1990). The main principles for framing the Environmental Studies syllabus for Primary School are: ◊ The pupils will able to observe and know their immediate environment and develop a scientific attitude in solving their everyday problems; ◊ Study of separate subjects like biology, physics, chemistry, geography, geology, social studies, etc does not help young pupils understand the wholeness of the environment, so an integrated subject is very important; and ◊ Knowledge about proper use of environmental resources and of their conservation is essential for the maintenance of human life and civilisation. The topics included in the primary and a secondary curriculum indicate the coverage of environmental studies in the formal school system. Although the environment receives substantial coverage in primary education, the coverage at lower secondary school (grades 6-8) is rather sketchy. Worse still, activity-oriented methods of teaching are totally absent in the present school curriculum due to: ⇒ Insufficient adequately qualified teachers, ⇒ Lack of basic educational infrastructure such as suitable classrooms and work space, ⇒ Lack of educational equipment, audio-visual materials, etc, and ⇒ Teacher training which fails to provide knowledge of the environment and skills required for effective environmental education.