This document discusses the need to incorporate environmental education at various levels of education. It outlines the aims of environmental education as increasing awareness of environmental issues, exploring solutions, and encouraging participation in environmental protection. Environmental education includes education about the environment, education for the environment through developing values and positive actions, and education through the environment using natural resources. The document then describes how environmental education is approached at different education levels from primary school through secondary and higher secondary school, with content becoming more complex and discipline-specific at higher levels to develop deeper understanding of environmental issues.

1. NEED OF INCOPERATING
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
AT VARIOUS LEVELS: PRIMARY,
SECONDARY AND TERTIARY
Presented by
Sheeba Nelson

2. Environmental Education (EE) is a process
that allows individuals to explore environmental issues,
engage in problem solving and take action to improve
the environment.
Aims and objectives of EE
1) To increase public awareness about environmental
issues.
2) Explore possible solutions.
3) Participation of individual in the protection of
environment.
4) Prudent and rational use of national resources .

3. Environmental education can be thought of as comprising
three link components:
a) Education about environment (knowledge).
b) Education for the environment (values, attitudes and
positive action).
c) Education through the environment ( resource).
Environmental education has an ability to solve the
societal needs, the need of a community problem and
the solutions. We need the school children to share
and develop the motivation from school about various
environmental issues, which are the challengers of
today and prepare them for the future.

4. EE must become a vehicle for engaging young minds in
the excitement of first hand observation of the nature
and understanding the patterns and processes in the
natural and social worlds in order to take care of the
habitat and its surroundings which becomes a major
part of EE in both primary and upper primary stages of
school education. In the secondary and senior
secondary stages also some of the major issues such as
environmental protection, management and
conservation are to be dealt in more detail.

5. Primary Stage
EE is imparted as EVS, which forms a common component of
syllabus, prescribed by the state and CBSE. The contents and
concepts covered in these books are as follows:-
 Familiarization with one’s own body.
 Awareness about immediate surroundings.
 Need for food, water, air, shelter, clothing and recreation.
 Importence of trees and plants.
 Knowledge about source of energy.
 Protection of environment etc.
The text books lay emphasis on raising awareness
levels and sensitizing children about environmental concerns.

6. Upper Primary Stage
The contents of text books present and extension and
elaboration of the concepts introduced at the primary
stage. The major concepts dealt with in these text books
are;
 Natural resources.
 Water cycle.
 Food chain.
 Classification of plants.
 Ecosystems.
 Basic knowledge about earth and its atmosphere.
 Impact of deforestation.

7. Secondary Stage
In this stage the environmental concepts are at concrete
and abstract levels. The concepts covered are;
 Biosphere.
 Greenhouse effect.
 Ozone layer depletion.
 Nuclear energy.
 Bio energy.
 Radiation hazards.
 Environmental laws and action etc.

8. Higher Secondary Stage
This is the stage of diversification. Students opt for
either the academic stream or the vocational stream.
The treatment of concept becomes deeper and more
discipline oriented. Majority of the concepts are found
in the text books of biology, chemistry and geography,
which are optional subjects. Students opting for any one
of these subjects would accordingly benefit in different
aspects of EE. The converge of EE concepts in the text
books of various subjects includes:
 Atmosphere pollution- Global warming.
 Green house effect.
 Acid rain.
 Ecology.