Nature education
- Part 1 -

Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh *

Conservation of Loktak Lake echoed on 44th World Wetland Day observance :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

Everybody is talking about environment, about global warming and climate change. Everywhere, among the intellectuals and illiterates, politicians, bureaucrats, students, people of all walks, the discussions are on the issue of degradation of environment nowadays. All these indicate the gravity of the situation. So, in various circles, the need of a proper use of nature education has been voiced, for having programmes and facilities for nature education.

There have been suggestions of including parts or whole of nature education in the school curriculum. It is felt that it is needed to give more emphasis on the issue of nature education, because, rich and poor, black and white, young and old, east or west, north or south, we all share a common future. We all should contribute towards saving our nature and consequently in saving the planet. It needs a concerted effort from all of us.

The nature education is an important topic in this regards and a necessity for all, it has been felt in some way or other, and hence, there has been attempts to impart non formal nature education. With the increasing necessity and emerging issues, it is felt necessary to standardise and structure the courses on nature education to suit various sections of the society, hence this article.

We neglect god and invite wrath, this has been happening time and again, history is the witness. Like that neglecting nature, we have been inviting the fury of nature and facing disasters. Nature and God are almost synonymous, nature has created this world along with the non living and living components. We need to know the dynamics of the balance between various components that nature has created and to understand this, we need to know about the trees, shrubs, herbs, plants, microflora and Animals, birds, reptiles, fishes, amphibians, insects, butterflies, microfauna etc. We need to understand the relationship of these living components with the non living components because these dynamics have great impact on our lives and on the food we take, the water we drink, the air we breadth. We need knowledge about various plants and animals to understand endangered species so that we can save the planet earth.

1. Definition:

Nature Education is used for the purposes of public education, awareness, recreation, nature conservation and scientific studies. The Nature Education means offering knowledge to improve identification, increasing understanding, public awareness, to improve and to conserve life on Earth. It aims at increasing the knowledge to enable one to see the big environmental picture and create spontaneous acts.

It differs from formal science education, here we learn with pleasure and fun, but it does not mean that the formal education about natural science is not the nature education. It is also education for those who did not have formal natural education and for those who had, but did not cover the entire aspect, the nature education is still important and is a must.

2. Objective:

The nature education programmes have become immensely popular due to the fun we get and knowledge gained. Many important objectives can be obtained with nature education. But the objectives may differ from one target group to the other, the theme for adults may differ from that of school children. There are certain common objectives which are given below:-

3. Types:

The nature education may be of various types. The first one is the classroom education the inbuilt topics in the regular syllabus. This is regarded as first stage of nature education. We have certain topics covered in the conventional classroom education, but there is widespread demand that it should be made more comprehensive. With the introduction of nature interpretation centres and dioramas, conventional nature education are better appreciated.

Indoor: a). Classroom and curriculum

b). Nature Interpretation Centres

Outdoor a). Nature Education Camps-Awareness Camps

b). Nature Education Centres

c). Ecotourism

The outdoor types are regarded as true nature education and is far more popular. A few types of outdoor nature education are as above.

4. Target Group:

Everybody needs a good knowledge of nature, and hence nature education is required. It is required for old and young, man and women, politicians and a bureaucrat alike but it is more important for the youths and children. So, it is a good youth programme. The children learn how to live with nature and with other people. The nature camps instil confidence in the youth and improve the personality. So, it is a very useful programme for them.

5. Scope:

Now a day, we are distancing more and more from nature. Due to exponential growth in population, the younger generation do not have the advantage of being in harmony with nature. There are people who are born inside the concrete jungle, brought up in AC rooms, studied in AC smart classes, thereby creating total disconnect with nature and natural areas. So, the mental and physical growth is restricted. Nature Education is the only means to blend the modernism with nature and to fill up the void.

The nature education can cover a wide spectrum of subjects. But to me it should be confined to protecting our natural heritage, our nature areas, our trees, plants, MAP and wildlife. The plan should be for simple and easy approaches towards reducing environmental degradation. The structured programmes should have limited items that should have a general component and some specific items.

6. Limitations:

The limitation that nature education has is due the fact that it is more suited to be non formal education rather than a formal curriculum.

a. It encompasses all disciplines of science and some part of social sciences, hence too extensive.

b. It has to cover all sections of the society, hence different approaches are required.

7. Preparation of Modules

While designing a nature education programme, care should be taken to package a compact programme. The beauty in modern day nature education lies in the present design which includes camping in nature areas, tours, field classes etc. The idea is to get education from the nature by living with nature, away from cities and our homes. One gets physically and mentally transported to a different plane, doing away modern amenities. Such environment makes one to realise the importance of nature better. But it should avoid hard and tough classroom type studies.

There are different modules and innovations are going on in this field. The modules can be short one using one or a few of the following items or can be for longer duration taking most of the items. But it is suggested that such programmes should not a long one and limited to preferably three to five days.

To be continued...