Page 306 - DEDU501_DEVELOPMENT_OF_EDUCATION_SYSTEM_ENGLISH

Development of Education System

Notes The Non-Formal Environmental Education for building of Environmental Awareness is imparted
through various means like- through Eco- clubs, Population Education Programmes, Environmental
Campaigns, and through other means.
I. Public Awareness through Eco- Clubs: Public Awareness Programmes for conservation of
environment can be done by students at school or Mohallah (residential colony) level also. For
this, students can form eco- clubs of like minded, responsible and disciplined students.
What is an Eco- club? An eco-club is a group of people who meet at regular intervals for planning,
designing and implementing activities for generating awareness among masses and for identifying
and solving ecological problems at the local levels.
At school level, students can form Eco- clubs by organizing students from different classes. Some
Non- governmental organisations like WWF that are busy in generating environmental awareness
since long, are running Nature -Clubs in some schools in different states of India and abroad. The
National Council of Science and Technology Communications (NCSTC) is also generating
Environmental Awareness through its various eco-clubs running across the country under different
names.
The National Green Corps: The Ministry of Environment and Forest started National Green Corps
(NGC) Programme in the year 2001 - 02. The objective of this National Programme is to generate
Environmental Awareness amongst school children through establishment of Eco-clubs in all the
districts of different states and Union Territories of India. The programme is being implemented
by different nodal agencies. The principal focus of the NGC Programme is the introduction of
action oriented studies of the problems of environment on different levels and finding out easy
solutions of these problems through students under the guidance and supervision of their teachers.
The basic objectives of NGCs are -
(i) To provide Environmental Education opportunities to school children and to make them
understand their local environment and Environmental Problems.
(ii) Stimulating awareness amongst school children through physical programmes of activities
about the Environmental Conservation and Protection Issues.
(iii) Visualizing the role of children as agents of change and dissemination of environmental
information among public.
(iv) To facilitate participation of school children in decision making in the areas of development
and environment.
(v) To involve children in action based programmes designed by them for solving
environmental problems at local levels.
II. Public Awareness through Population Education Programmes: Educating students about
human population; relationships between economic, social, cultural and biological processes that
influence a population; impacts of the growth of human population on these processes, and
Reproductive Health of men and women - is called as population education. The science of
population is called as Demography and one who is the expert of demography is called as a
Demographer.
(a) Importance of Population Education: The Population Education is a very important part of education
which acts as a powerful agent of building awareness regarding development and environment.
It encourages the learners to understand the impacts of population growth on environment in
general and about the impact of population growth on natural resourced in particular. It teaches
about the impact of population on civic amenities and spread of various types of general and
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) like Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).The
population education incorporates Sex Education which is essential for good reproductive health,
maintaining the size of the family and keeping away from STD.
(b) Impact of Population Growth on Development and Environment: The growth of human population
has great impacts on development. On the other hand development too, has great impacts on the
growth of human population. Hence it is important to generate awareness about the impacts of

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