Environmental Education In Schools: Importance And Initiatives

Importance of Environmental Education in Schools

Question:

Discuss about the Sustainability in Educational Perspectives Process.

Environmental education in school is a long process aiming to raise environmental awareness to the pupils who attend the classes. In today’s world, all the schools must come forward with an intention to raise their concerns regarding this issue and aiming to fight for the sustenance of our mother earth. Environmental education stresses on the teaching of the environment by interdisciplinary and issue-solving approaches (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012). This type of education has to start in the early developmental years of the pupils so that they can develop a concern for the nature from the childhood. It is a matter of fact that schools are the primary place, where the students need to get familiar with the environment at that stage of their lives. As at this level, they should look at this in a holistic view. 

The management of the educational institutions must look into the matter of global warming and should be concerned regarding this issue. In the year 2020, The Future Foundation School has rightly taken a huge step by building solar panels, building reservoir to save water and by building a huge garden with varieties of vegetables and fruits. It is a matter of fact that, in today’s world, the resources are getting very limited and all the residents of earth must take initiative to preserve them. Since schools are the first society for the young population of this world, so the schools are the place where the pupils should be given the basic learning regarding, the environment and they must know how to preserve its natural resources (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012). It is a matter of fact, due to rapid industrialization, the nature is getting victimized day-by-day and uncontrolled extraction of its natural resources is behind most of the natural disasters nowadays. Thus, it should be our duty to learn how to preserve and help Mother Nature to sustain from all the oddities. The reputed educational institution Future Foundation School has thus taken some innovative initiatives to contribute at least something for the aid of Mother Nature (Gadotti, 2016). Within the school compound, the management has build a giant garden where the pupils are trained how to plant trees and how to take care of them. In there, the pupils have displayed a great passion, they delightfully planted many trees producing various types of fruits, and they have successfully grown numerous types of vegetables in large quantity. The school owns a huge compound and the management is using every corner of the land in a productive way. There are two separate gardens, one for fruits and one exclusively for growing vegetables. The pupils of the school take great care of those plants, they sell those fruits and vegetables to the local people, and a huge fund for the benefits of the school is thus raised each year.

Initiatives taken by Future Foundation School

The management of Future Foundation School has done a great job in building a team in the school and appointing a professional people for leading the team for the Environmental Sustenance Program of the school. ESP team is greatly popular among the pupils of the school (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015). The school provides education to the students within the age group of 3 to 12 years old. This age group is the prime time for the kids to learn something about the nature and they would put in their best learning that whatever they have has come from the environment only (Eskay & Oboegbulem, 2013). The leader of the team is a professional environmentalist and he has agreed to spare his valuable time for the school as he thinks the same way as the management of the school does. It is a matter of fact that Mr Kobaye is doing a great job with the pupils of the school. Future Foundation School is located at the centre of New South Wales and thus is in a prime location for the residents of that area to send their wards to this school for a complete childhood development program. The school has gained huge popularity within two to three years, as they had to expand their infrastructure after completing the second academic year of the school (Gadotti, 2016). Apart from the neighbouring residents, people from different cities send their children to this school who are particularly aware of their children’s overall awareness regarding environment. It is a matter of fact that in today’s world, in 2020, due to rapid growth in industrialization, and increased usage of uranium to produce energy is decreasing the general life expectancy of human beings. In this scenario, the management of this school is showing great awareness to groom their students in a way that they will contribute something for the benefit of the environment. The management has built an unique reservoir where they can store excess water and rainwater (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012). They recycle the water for many purposes, and along with that, they grow many fishes in several artificial ponds inside the school compound. The ESP team very carefully grows edible fishes there and they sell it in very low cost to the specific poor sellers, so that the sellers can benefit a bit more by selling them. the management of the school is contributing a lot for the society and for the environment by taking such initiatives (Gbenu, 2012). The director of the school, Mr Roger Sullivan stated that they strongly condemn the excess use of uranium to produce energy and thus they have installed huge solar panels on the roof. In this manner, they produce immense energy and out of that, they use only 40 to 50 percent energy and the rest of it they allow the local hospital and clinics to share. . On the other hand, under the leadership of Mr. Kobaye the pupils made a pool, and in that pool they use dynamo to produce electricity and the needed wave to let the fishes grow more (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015).

Role of Environmental Education in Raising Awareness and Developing Skills

The management of the organization has taken these basic initiatives under the leadership of Mr Kobaye, a reputed environmentalist. It is a matter of fact, that these types of activities are very important in the year of 2020, and more institutions that are educational must come forward with the same intention (Eskay & Oboegbulem, 2013).  Three to twelve years is the most important years for the children to learn something and Future Foundation school is doing exactly what is expected. It is a fact that if these children grow a passion to save the environment, they would teach many individuals to do the same and some of them would teach some people the same (Adeolu, Enesi, & Adeolu, 2014).

In this manner, a greater awareness regarding environment can be seen within a few years.  In this context the concept and execution of the concept done by the management of Future Foundation School under the leadership of Mr. Kobaye is commendable. It is seen that, Mr, Obaye is very popular among the students of the educational institution and his innovative and constructive ideas are very dear to the young students of the school. They look at those tasks playfully and it is a proven fact that all the ways that Mr. Kobaye has chosen, are rightly serving the purposes (Gadotti, 2016). Future Foundation School has set an example to all the educational institutions and is still raising the bars high continuously under the leadership of Mr Kobaye and they are becoming a matter of pride for the residents of New South Wales (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012). The basic intention behind this huge project is to encourage an approach that takes some basic ideas and aadapts them according to the local needs. There might be many traditional ways to do these kinds of works, but Mr. Kobaye found ways, so that the little responsible citizens find it interesting to do and grow a natural love for the Mother Nature. The pupils under the observation of Mr. Kobaye are managing a poultry farm and a small farm for goats and lambs (Gadotti, 2016). These chickens and animals are not used for commercial purposes, and there are many animals like guinepigs, rabbits and numerous types of birds under a huge enclosed area so that they can move freely. The birds are provided with a garden like enclosed area so that they can be in peace and the animals are kept in a scientific manner so that they face no issues there (Gbenu, 2012). It is a matter of fact that, Mr. Kobaye wants his students to spend at least a few hours on a daily basis very close to the mother nature in their these crucial constructive years of their lives (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015).

Environmental education is something that simultaneously tries to raise awareness, develop knowledge and practices for the preservation and sustenance of Mother Nature from all the oddities (Gbenu, 2012). There are various types of ways to raise the general awareness regarding the environment, and those can be done by cognitive and affective behaviour modification. Environmental education can be seen as a process that helps to build skills and attitude much needed to understand and accept the relationship between mankind and environment or the biophysical world. Thus, it can be said that, all the programs related to environmental education are consist of the acquisition of knowledge and basic understanding and the development of skills (Eskay & Oboegbulem, 2013). Thus, under the leadership of Mr. Kobaye, the pupils of Future Foundation School aims to investigate the components that made this biophysical world and try to consider some of its ways those can be adapted by human society for the betterment of the society. In this manner, the pupils can explore the geographical and ecological components rather than cultural and social factors of day to day human life. It is a matter of fact that, the management of Future Foundation School has taken up oath to raise the awareness regarding environmental issues into the next level and they are doing it quite successfully (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012). In the year of 2020, beside them there are no other educational institutions that have done anything distantly similar to their kind regarding this matter. The institution has thus earned a hue reputation within a couple of years after it was established as a commercial organization for educational purpose. In the current scenario of 2020, people needs to raise awareness among themselves for the sustenance of mother nature. People must understand that all we have came from the environment and it is the duty of the humankind to help Mother Nature to fight all the oddities and sustain (Adeolu, Enesi, & Adeolu, 2014).

• Learn to learn
• Obtain a taste for learning all the way through life
• To develop critical thinking
• Get hold of tools for understanding the world
• To understand the sustainability concepts and issues
• Education for Sustainable Development of nature
• Recognizes the evolving nature of the concept of sustainability
• Reflects the ever-growing needs of societies
• Acknowledges that satisfying local needs often has international effects and consequences (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012)
• Addresses the content, , global issues, context and local priorities

• See oneself as the main individual regarding defining the positive outcomes for the future
• Encourage discovery and experimentation for the pupils
• Obtain universally shared values
• Build up one’s personality, self-fulfilment, self-knowledge and self-identity
• The pupils must be able to act with greater independence, judgment and personal responsibility regarding Education for Sustainable Development of environment in future
• Education built on the principles and values those underlie sustainable development (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015)
• Providing education that deals with the interests of all the realms of sustainability  of environment
• This sort of education contributes greatly to an individual’s complete development of mind and body, intelligence, sensitivity, aesthetic appreciation and spirituality.

• Providing education that would help the pupils to participate and co-operate with others in increasingly pluralistic, multi-cultural societies
• This education helps to develop an understanding of other individuals and their histories, traditions, values, cultures and beliefs.
• This helps pupils to become tolerate, welcoming, respectful, embracing, and even being able to celebrate various differences and diversities in society
• This type of education allows pupils to respond constructively to the cultural diversities and economic differences found around the world
• Taught like this the students would be able to cope with situations of tension, exclusion, conflict, violence, and terrorism Education for Sustainable Development of environment
• These educations build civil capacity for the community-based decision-making, environmental stewardship, social tolerance, adaptable workforce and quality of the life

• The students must learn to be an actor as well as a thinker
• The pupils must understand and act on global and local sustainable development issues regarding environment
• The students must get hold of technical and professional training
• They must apply learned knowledge in day to day life
• They should be able to act creatively and responsibly in one’s environment Education for Sustainable Development
• The education is locally germane and culturally suitable
• The education must become a concrete reality for all our daily decisions and activities
• This is about helping to build a sustainable and safe world for every individuals (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015)

• The students must work toward a gender neutral, non-discriminatory society
• They must develop the ability and determination to integrate the sustainable lifestyles for themselves and others
• The students should promote behaviours and practices that reduce the ecological footprint on the world around the humankind
• The pupils must be respectful of the Earth and life with all its diversities
• The learners must act to achieve the social solidarity
• They must encourage democracy in a society where peace prevails Education for Sustainable Development for the environment
• This type of education integrates the values innate in sustainable development into all the aspects of learning
• This encourages changes in behaviours to create a more viable society for everyone
• These learning teaches people to reflect essentially on their own communities

Empowers people to assume responsibility for creating and enjoying a sustainable future

It is seen how under the leadership of Mr. Kobaye, the pupils of the New Horizon School are working as a team for the sustenance program regarding the environment (Adeolu, Enesi, & Adeolu, 2014).

Mr. Kobaye has made 4 sub groups in his team and in each group there are more than 50 students in the age group of 3 to 14 and it is seen how they contribute in the environmental program of the educational institution (Gbenu, 2012). Mr. Kobaye named the groups by the names of the legendary people who have great contributions towards the development of mother earth (Okoza, Aluede & Akpaida, 2012). He named the groups respectively by the names of John Muir, Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey and Aldo Leopold. The group members have a proper routine, and based on that routine they work in specific fields on a daily basis. They work either in a way that each day each group looks after the poultry farm, or after the vegetable garden or after the fruit garden or they look after the natural pond where they are growing fishes within the school compound (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015).

The students under the leadership of Mr. Kobaye grows vegetables, fruits, poultry products and fishes within the school compound and they also have installed a huge solar panel on the roof of the building and it is seen how they are doing great in recent times. It can be said that in the year of 2020, the activities where the management of the school is trying to engage their students is commendable. The activities under which the students are engaged, in the end these activities would be proved as the base of their learning regarding the Mother Nature. The age group of 3 to 14 is the most precious time for any child and if within this age they are taught to respect and love the nature that is saving us from all the oddities, that would be a great achievement for the mankind (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015). It is a matter of fact that, the management of the school is doing a great job by engaging the students in the activities regarding the developmental work for the environment. The students are learning to grow plants, fishes and they are even learning how to pet birds and domestic animals (Eskay & Oboegbulem, 2013). The students are learning not to waste the natural resources and rather to preserve them. Standing in the year of 2020, it is a sure thing that the pupils need to understand that, earth is not so rich with its natural resources anymore due to the uncontrolled extraction of the minerals and rapid industrialization has harmed the biosphere immensely. Thus at this point of time it will be better if all the people starts showing concern for the environment for the betterment of all (Adeolu, Enesi, & Adeolu, 2014).

The institution New Horizon School has already became an example nowadays and they are continuously making the bars higher for all other educational institutions. It is seen that the school has gained immense popularity in last couple of years and many business leaders are trying to come up with the innovative idea that the management of New Horizon School has came forward (Davis, Spaniol & Somerset, 2015). The business leaders are considering to set up schools following the model of New Horizon School as a part of their Company Social Responsibility.

Conclusion

Thus to conclude, it can be said that New Horizon School is setting an example for all the educational institutions all over the world and the management stated in an interview that if any educational organization comes up with an idea of collaboration, they would not hesitate to join them or even to help them selflessly. The basic idea was to contribute to the sustenance program of the Mother Nature and they are not considering the monetary side by helping others. The management also stated that they started their journey not only to educate children in an academic way, but also to teach them how to take responsibility and how to become an individual who can contribute to the development and sustenance program for the environment. It is a matter of fact that nature gives us everything that we need to live and we do not return anything to nature and if we do that that is a very nominal effort. The management of the institution has earned a lot of reputation by contributing so much to the society and to the nature as well. The management makes it sure that each year the students plant at least 100 trees within the school compound and even outside the compound. They are strong endorsers of go green project and all they want is to see lush green vegetation all around the globe. The management of the institution has a clear goal and that is to make earth a liveable planet at least for a couple of millenniums more and they are trying to work really hard for that. The management has understood the fact that over usage of uranium is dangerous for the mankind and that needs to be stopped. The management thus encourages that the parents of the students of their school to install solar panels to generate electricity on their own and not to depend on the natural resources for energy. It is seen that thermal energy is not being produced nowadays for the lack of coals and usage of uranium to extract energy is a popular process nowadays and that immediately needs to stop.  Thus in short, it can be said that, New Horizon School is giving in a lot of effort for the betterment of the environment and all the people needs to step in the shoes of what the management of New Horizon School has set till now for the betterment of Mother Nature and overall betterment of the humankind.

References

Adeolu, A. T., Enesi, D. O., & Adeolu, M. O. (2014). Assessment of secondary school students’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards waste management in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Journal of Research in Environmental Science and Toxicology, 3(5), 66-73.

Afolabi, A. K., Abidoye, J. A., & Afolabi, A. F. (2012). Effect of instructional media on the academic achievement of students in social studies in junior secondary schools. President's Message, 57.

Apple, M. W. (2013). Teachers and texts: A political economy of class and gender relations in education. Routledge.

Chawla, L. 1990 Ecstatic places. Children's environments quarterly 7(4) 18-24 
Chawla L. 2007 childhood experiences associated with care for the natural world. Children, youth and environments 17(4), 144-170

Davis, J. N., Spaniol, M. R., & Somerset, S. (2015). Sustenance and sustainability: maximizing the impact of school gardens on health outcomes. Public health nutrition, 18(13), 2358-2367.

Eskay, M., & Oboegbulem, A. (2013). Designing Appropriate Curriculum for Special Education in Urban School in Nigeria: Implication for Administrators. Online Submission, 3(4), 252-258.

Gadotti, M. (2016). Education for sustainability-A critical contribution to the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Gbenu, J. P. (2012). State of Nigerian secondary education and the need for quality sustenance. Greener journal of educational research, 2(1), 7-12.

Harris, I. M., & Morrison, M. L. (2012). Peace education. McFarland.

Karrow, D. D., & Fazio, X. (2015). Curricular Critique of an Environmental Education Policy: Implications for Practice. Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 24(2), 88-108.

Kopnina, H., & Meijers, F. (2014). Education for sustainable development (ESD) Exploring theoretical and practical challenges. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 15(2), 188-207.

Lowe, l. 2007 climate change and our children's future. Every child. Vol. 13, no. 1. 
Market, j. 2009 sharing earth 

Male, T., & Palaiologou, I. (2012). Learning-centred leadership or pedagogical leadership? An alternative approach to leadership in education contexts. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 15(1), 107-118.

McBeath, G. A., McBeath, J. H., Qing, T., & Yu, H. (2014). Environmental education in China. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Meek, D. (2015). Taking research with its roots: restructuring schools in the Brazilian landless workers' movement upon the principles of a political ecology of education. Journal of Political Ecology, 22(0), 1-19.

Ndwapi, G., & Mosothwane, M. (2012). Training pre-service teachers in environmental education: the case of colleges of education in Botswana.

Okoza, J., Aluede, O., & Akpaida, J. E. A. (2012). Secondary school students’ perception of environmental variables influencing academic performance in Edo state, Nigeria. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, 9(2), 84-94.

Songqwaru, N. Z. (2012). Supporting environment and sustainability knowledge in the Grade 10 Life Sciences curriculum and assessment policy context: A case study of the Fundisa for Change teacher education and development programme pilot project. Unpublished master’s thesis. Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

Stone, m., & barlow, z. 2005 ecological literacy educating our children for a sustainable world 

Warren, K., Roberts, N. S., Breunig, M., & Alvarez, M. A. T. G. (2014). Social justice in outdoor experiential education: A state of knowledge review. Journal of Experiential Education, 37(1), 89-103.

Williams, D., & Brown, J. (2013). Learning gardens and sustainability education: Bringing life to schools and schools to life. Routledge.