The
other day I had attended a National Seminar on Empowering Teachers for
Sustainable Development.
One
session during the Seminar focussed on the topic ‘Equipping Teachers for
Eco-Pedagogy and Education for Sustainable Development-An Exploration.’
Two
teachers, Prof. A.Faziluddin, Principal, Farook Training College and Dr. Muhammadunni Alias Musthafa, Dept. of
Education, University of Calicut engaged the session.
The
following were the introductory remarks made by Prof. Faziluddin:
*Palkhiwallah
once stated: “The human generation ends
up with guided missiles and misguided men.”...Now..., who is responsible
for the misguided men? Teachers are keen on taking responsibility
for the fame not the blame.
*Three essential things which a
teacher is expected to do includes: To
know the truth, to do the right thing and to love beauty. But this seldom happens.
*The
twenty million baby diapers and the
napkins which women use every day
in India is a real threat to the environment.
*Unlike the Indian closet, the
European closet which adorns every modern home and office, flushes down the toilet millions of gallons of water each time an individual uses the urinal.
While summing up Prof. Faziluddin affirmed that for Environmental Education, it
is the attitude of the teacher that makes
the difference.
Dr. Mustafa dealt at length with
several aspects related to Eco-Pedagogy.
The enabling pedagogy which he proposed included:
*Emphasis
on learning rather than on teaching
*Capacity
building for critical thinking and problem solving
*Addressing
locale specific environmental problems/issues infusing environmental
perspective to classroom subjects.
*Multi-disciplinary
approach
The challenges for Teacher Education includes:
*Developing
an appropriate environmental ethos and developmental perspective.
*Developing
sensitivity and awareness to environmental issues/concern.
While summing up Dr. Mustafa said that a progressive free education is
essential for Eco-Pedagogy.
The
final session of the Seminar included
an Open Forum: Sustain or Extinct. The
moderator of the session was Dr.T.N.
Vijayakumar, President of Malabar Natural History Society. In his introductory
remarks, Dr. Vijayakumar revealed how he learned the first lesson in Global
Warming from a fisherman. He narrated
how the fisherman who eked out a living
in the 1980’s by fishing in the estuary
near Feroke, Calicut had to give up his profession when many species
which he used to catch and sell had died out owing to the rise in temperature
of the water in the estuary.
In
the Open Forum many issues and concerns
were expressed by the delegates. I had raised the following concern related to
experience:
In
an attempt to raise sensitivity to environmental issues, many teachers organize trekking
to jungles and National Parks. But during such outings, food, clothing and modern makeshift shelters are carried by the students to make the trip
as comfortable as possible. Those who live a life completely dependent on the
jungle know, what it means to live entirely on resources available from
Nature. A bite by an insect can be cured
using herbs available in the jungle. The
water in the jungle streams are free of pollutants and they are aware of the need to preserve them all in its pristine
beauty.
Now...,how
many teachers can survive in the jungle by solely depending on the resources
available in the jungle? Can casual pleasure trekking create in students a real love for Nature and
evoke in them the need to preserve our natural resources?
Any comments dear reader?
Note
: The visuals on nature is from the Photo Exhibition organized by The Malabar Natural History Society during the Seminar.
No comments:
Post a Comment