Article 2: Role of Teacher Educators in Environment Education
Back	M A Khan, Principal, K.K.English High School , Varthur, Bangalore-87.	Next

Education plays a very important role in the life of man. It is this tool that makes a man a human being who can think, analyse and act judiciously. Many philosophers, thinkers and educationists have defined education in many ways from different viewpoints. If we sum up all the definitions, then we can define education as “that process which brings a change in the behaviour of human being”. I would further hold that “a change in behaviour in a desired manner”.

The early life of man is about 20 years, is spent in getting education. It is this time from the age of 6 years onwards that a desired change is planned and executed in terms of primary, high school, pre university and university level education. The most effective and interactive period is the first two stages of education is primary and high school. At this stage the children will fall in the age group of 6 to 14 years. It is the most receptive age group, which can influence, to bring a desired change. The responsibility of doing this lies with the teachers who teach at these levels. A properly planned syllabus and activities appropriately calculated and executed will bring the desired change. Hence, the importance of primary and high school teachers.

These teachers themselves need a good training so that they can become effective. The primary teachers are trained at DEd training institutes (both private and government) and the high school teachers are trained at BEd institutes (both private and government) and MEd at postgraduate level. The people or master trainers are called “The teacher educators”. These teacher educators plan the syllabus and the training schedules for the training of the candidates. They influence these would be teachers who would take the burden and shoulder the responsibility of training (educating) the future generations. Hence, they are of prime concern.

Environment is the utmost important part of our lives. It is concerned with the surroundings in which we live and cherish our life. Protection of environment is everyone's duty. So environment education is needed.

Conservation of environment is not taken seriously by people. There is a “who cares” attitude or “the little I pollute, how does it matter much?” attitude. These attitudes are because of the lack of environment education. Effective learning happens in childhood to make environment education effective. The people who shoulder this responsibility are to be trained, hence the importance of teacher educators.

If the “would be” teachers are trained in conservation and protection of environment, then the cascading effect can be seen in the following way. The impact can be seen at two levels- i.e., at the school level and at the teacher's training institute level.

I (A) AT THE PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL

A teacher has on an average 40 students passing out at VII std. Level. The average service of each teacher in general would be about 30 years. Hence in his full service each primary school teacher can influence about 1200 students (40x30). Then there are 31,000 primary school teachers on an average in Karnataka, then it would mean that in 30 years 1200x31,000=3,72,00,000=3.72crore students will be getting the right environmental education to become responsible citizens.

Impact – First Level

(B) AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL (HIGH SCHOOL)

In a high school, on an average each teacher has about 60 students, if each teacher works for 30 years, then the teacher would have 60x30=1800 students, i.e., each teacher in his life time can educate about 1800 students.

In high schools, on an average there are about 23,000 teachers in Karnataka i.e., to say that if all the high school teachers provide proper environment education then they can influence 1800x23,000=6,14,00,000=6.14 crore students.

(C) AT THE TRAINING INSTITUTE LEVEL

In each of the DEd colleges, the average intake of trainees per year is 60. Then the total number of DEd institutes in Bangalore is 183, that means every year we produce 60x183=10880 “environment aware “ teachers to impart education at primary schools. In Karnataka we have 733 institutes i.e., 43980 teachers.

In the same manner, the average intake of students per year in a BEd college is 100 students and there are 140 colleges in Bangalore i.e., 140x100=14000 environment aware teachers. As such in Karnataka there are 356 colleges, then 356x100=35600 teachers.

At the university level, i.e., MEd, the average intake is 30 students. In Karnataka there are four universities which train teacher educators i.e., every year there will be 30x4=120 trained environment aware responsible postgraduate teacher educators. They in turn will impart the awareness to a large extent as the whole system runs into a chain reaction.

Impact – Second Level

If teacher educators are environment conscious, then per year in Karnataka, they would produce about 80,000 trained teachers who are also environment conscious. In 2020, we can see a vibrant, healthy and pollution free India .

CONCLUSION  

If 3.72 crore primary school students and 6.14 crore high school students altogether about 10 crore students become aware of the environment and protect it for their own betterment by planning and executing policies, then it will preserve the environment for future use.

In 2020 AD we can have a healthy, pollution free vibrant India . To achieve this, we need to take the following steps.

Include environment education as a compulsory subject at DEd, BEd and MEd levels by adding it in the syllabus.

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