EducationWorld

Too much of a good thing

recent Supreme Court directive requires a new subject called “environmental education” to be taught compulsorily in school at all levels. Moreover the court has decreed that school leaving class X and XII students be examined in the subject. But is it too much of a good thing?

As a teacher I wonder about the wisdom of this directive. Currently a class X student writes 11 exam papers (typically physics, chemistry, biology, math, English literature, English language, Hindi literature, Hindi language, history & civics, geography, economics or art). And the syllabuses are quite vast and varied.

At the next school leaving stage, i.e. in class XII, a student typically studies five subjects (physics, chemistry, math, biology and English). By any yardstick the Plus Two syllabus is also exhaustive and varied. Indeed the breadth and expanse of each subject is more than an average student can handle.

For classes XI and XII, the prescribed hours in school are 1,100 and 1,200 respectively per year. Assuming that the academic session starts in mid June in class XI and the Plus Two syllabus ends in class XII in December next year, the actual working days are about 350 divided into seven periods of 45 minutes each, i.e 5.25 hours per day. Add to this the time- four-five hours- every student spends on homework and self study. All this in the aggregate adds up to 10-12 hours everyday- more than enough by any yardstick.

Now additional time needs to be made for environmental education. This subject has been included in the compulsory group making it mandatory for all students to write an exam and pass it. Which means increasing the hours of study. The school has to make a provision of at least two periods per week to teach the subject as per the prescribed syllabus. How will schools make additional time to teach this subject, especially since exam boards have not reduced the syllabus in other subjects to accommodate environmental education?

Moreover a study of the syllabus prescribed for environmental studies reveals that the subject is already covered exhaustively in the science and social studies syllabus of classes V-XII. So what’s the need for it to be introduced as a separate subject?

Already pressures of class X and XII board exams have the following implications:

The IB and Cambridge International Examination curriculums are becoming popular in India because they don’t pressurise or corner students, but base their evaluation on consistent good work by way of projects, papers and reports. If the CISCE, CBSE and state boards don’t revamp their systems, foreign boards with their liberal pedagogies and curriculums could well replace them.

Against this backdrop here are a few suggestions worthy of consideration by education officials in Delhi and the state capitals:

(Rajal Chakrabarty is principal (senior section) Eklavya School, Ahmedabad)

Also read: Bringing nature into the classroom

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