Politics
is intermingled with almost all aspects of a human's life in a democracy
and this is the root cause of all problems for the societal development.
In the last 10 days, there are allegations against the government
that it tries to misinterpret and distort the history by deleting
few portions from the CBSE history books. The deletions pertain to
Guru Tegh Bahadur's martyrdom and perceptions of Bhagat Singh and
Subhas Chandra Bose as terrorists. It is a pity that this is made
as a big political issue with the ensuing hustings in Uttar Pradesh,
Uttaranchal and Punjab. The BJP says that it hardly changed 30 lines
out of 35,000 lines in the CBSE history books. They defend these deletions
by saying that in the name of intellectual freedom we should not burden
the young impressionable minds with contentious issues. The BJP has
identified few portions from the history books, which have the potential
to "offend" Brahmins, Sikhs, Jains, and Jats. According to BJP Parliamentary
party secretary Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the NCERT history books describe
Guru Tegh Bahadur and Jats as plunderers and ancient Indians as beef-eaters
besides questioning the existence of the first 15 Jain Tirthankars.
The politics has not even left the education untouched. The only
ray of hope comes from our Prime Minister who on Friday, 30 November
2001 exhorted the educationists to reform our education system so
that our next generation would not be second to anyone in the world.
He stressed the need for a good quality education as this alone in
a highly competitive would help the nation beat others in all walks
of life and take the country to the pinnacle of the world. When the
whole world has gone far ahead of us in Information Technology, it
is still the course of the elites in our country. We are talking of
taking the IT to the primary/elementary classes but still what we
have done in this effort is much to be feel satisfied about.
The Centre has a plan to launch National Green Corps (NGC) in about
50,000 schools across the country. It is going to introduce environmental
education in school curriculum to spread awareness about environment
in society. The environmentalist lawyer M C Mehta petitioned seeking
better environment for all. This is in compliance to Supreme Court
order in 1991. The national policy on education and environmental
concerns envisages not only an integration of environmental education
in the school curriculum but also the related issues such as ecological
decay, resource depletion, neighbourhood education, tourism education,
awareness about AIDS, human rights, safety and problems of over population.
The importance of each one of them is quite obvious. In fact this
is what is the underpinning message from the mass movements led by
people like Medha Patkar.
In order to achieve its objective, NCERT has prepared a National
Curriculum Framework for School Education. One of its major concerns
is related to the understanding of the environment in its totality
both natural and social and their interaction process, the environmental
problems and the ways and means to preserve the environment. In the
materialistic world, we have scant regard for the well-being of the
ecology which encompasses the human beings. We are given a myopic
view of the concept of development. Our next generation should be
told in clear terms what is "sustainable development". It should be
imbibed in the young minds that the sustainable development is the
development that takes care of our environment also and this is the
true and long-standing, self-nourishing development.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has constituted a standing
committee for environment studies. This committee would advise UGC
as to how to impart environmental education in the university system
as well as suggest new proposals for introduction of courses under
its "innovative programmes". Our government bodies should include
in their committees people like Vandana Shiva when they design the
curriculum on environment.
The NGC involves establishment of eco-clubs in about 100 schools
in each district. This would cover about one-third of the school-going
children in this country. Although ideally we need to impart the environmental
awareness to all children, this is a good beginning. It is hoped that
this would cover all schools in the next couple of years.
The eco-clubs through NGC would address various subjects for protecting
and improving the environment for example solid waste management,
pollution control, afforestation, maintenance of parks and open spaces,
dissemination of information and creation of awareness. The State
governments are advised to identify schools, teachers and agencies
responsible for implementing, supervising, and monitoring the NGC
programme. The States are also advised to launch incentive programmes
to attract members into NGC and eco-clubs. The Central government
would make available financial assistance for establishing eco-clubs,
organizing orientation programmes for teachers and for resource materials.
The neighbourhood knowledge is very important, as many amongst us
would not be able to tell the important grain varieties or natural
medicinal plants grown in one's own district. Even if one is aware
of it, invariably they would not be able to identify a particular
grain or plant variety. The growth of big cities distanced the children
in the cities from the true picture of our environment. They are used
to the damaged environment right from the beginning of their lives.
In such a circumstance, the decision of the Centre and the proposed
NGC programme deserves a big applause. It is hoped that this brings
in a change in our environment. Lifestyle and in our thinking with
regard to the concept of development.
