A Study On Environmental Awareness Of College Students In Relation To Sex, Rural- Urban Background And Academic Streams Wise

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1 A Study On Environmental Awareness Of College Students In Relation To Sex, Rural- Urban Background And Academic Streams Wise Neeraj Kumar Sharma Govt. College of Teacher Education Dharamshala, District Kangra Himachal Pradesh (India) ABSTRACT The pristine environment was so pure, virgin, undisturbed, uncontaminated and quite hospitable for all life forms to exist. Man for the first time in his entire cultural history is facing one of the most horrible problem i.e., of ecological crisis. Though the destruction of environment in the past may be excused from the point of view of ignorance but it can t be now. Therefore the environmental education is socially more relevant today than the past. There is a urgent need for new approach to environment which cuts across barriers of class, color, creed and nationality. Everybody has to contribute its share for protection of environment before it is too late. In the present research paper an attempt has been made to assess the environmental awareness of students of Govt. Degree College Dharamshala Himachal Pradesh (India). Keywords: Environment, environmental education, college student, sex,area,academicstreamsetc. Introduction Environmenthasinfluencedandshapedourlivessincethetimeimmemorial.Itisfromtheenvironmentthat wegetourfoodtoeat,watertodrink,airtobreathandallthenecessitiesofdaytodaylife,thusconstitutingitasa lifesupportsystem.throughtheprocessofnaturalselectionandeliminationitisenvironmentonlywhichhascaused theevolutionofbiologicalspectrum,thebiosphereasitexiststoday.todayenvironmenthasbecometheconcernof all;theacademicians,intellectuals,scientists,policymakersandgovernmentacrossthecontinents(kantandsharma, 213). Forthefirsttimeinhisentireculturalhistorymanisfacingoneofthemosthorribleecologicalcrisisi.e.,the problemofpollutionofhisenvironmentwhichsometimeinpastwassopure,virgin,undisturbed,uncontaminated andquitehospitableforalllifeformstoexist.man signorance,greedandlackofrespectforthe MotherEarth has drawnallofusintooneoftheveryseriousproblemsoftodayi.e.,ofoverpopulation,dwindlingnaturalresourcesand environmentalcrisisthatarethreateningair,waterandsoilalongwiththevastnumberofbeautifullifeformswhich aretheveryfoundationoflifeexistenceonthiswonderfulplanet The*Earth. Though the destruction of environment in the past may be excused from the point of view of ignorance, howevernowwehaveaccesstoknowledgeandinformationandthereforeitbecomesimperativeonourpartthatwe re7examineethicallyaswellasmorallywhatwehaveinherited,whatweareresponsibleforandwhatwewillpassto ourcominggenerations.manyofearth shabitats,animals,plants,insectsandevenmicroorganismsthatweknowof todayasrareorendangeredmaynotbeknownatallbyfuturegenerations.wehavethecapacityandresponsibility thatiswemustactbeforeitistoolate. Since the environmental education is the application of knowledge from different disciplines to study and managetheenvironmentarunkumar(212)anditissociallymorerelevanttodaythanthepastasithelpsustoknow howuncheckedandunplanneddevelopmentpollutesourair,waterandsoilandthereforethreatensoursubsistence and existence. On the other hand environmental awareness helps social groups and individuals to acquire an awarenessofsensitivitytothetotalenvironmentanditsalliedproblems.itisnotonlyaquestionofairandwater pollution but also includes elimination of diseases, hunger, malnutrition and poverty, destruction of forests, exterminationofwildlife,erosionofsoilandaccumulationofwasteandmanymore.hence,thereisanurgentneed for the proper management of environmental crisis before it threatens our existence. World educators and environmental specialists have repeatedly pointed out that a solution to environmental crises will require an 15

2 environmentalawarenesswhichshouldbedeeplyrootedintheeducationsystematalllevelsofschooleducation (Khan,213) ThemostrelevanttothesubjectisChineseperceptionabouteducationwhichsays7 If*you*are*planning*for*a*year,*sow*rice;*if*you*are*planning*for*a*decade,*plant*trees;*if*you*are*planning*for*a* lifetime,*educate*people * There is a urgent need for this new approach to education which not only cuts across various subjects at schools and higher educational levels but even the boundaries of class, color, creed, community and nationality. Environmental concerns are to be brought in all subject area rather than to introduce a mare new subject. It is thereforetobeclearlyunderstoodthatenvironmentanddevelopmentarenotcontradictorytoeachother,butthere isaneedof Holistic*Development i.e.,takingtheprocessofdevelopmentandenvironmentasaunit.peopleshould bepersuadedtoadoptenvironmentfriendlylifestyle.informationshouldbeproperlypassedontothegrassroot levelforrealactiontohappen.environmentaleducationshouldleadforgatheringmassawarenesswhichshouldbring environmentally wiser policies. Thus, in order to protect and conserve the environment, enabling people to lead quality life due emphasis has to be given to environmental education in both formal and non formal system of educationsundaravalli(212).itisinthisbackdropthepresentstudy7 Astudyofenvironmentalawarenessofcollege studentsinrelationtosex,rural7urbanbackgroundandacademicstreams wasundertaken. StudyArea: The present study was carried out during academic year 2576 with students of different sex, area and academicstreamsofgovt.degreecollegedharamshala,districtkangra,himachalpradesh(india)(fig.1). INDIA STUDY (DHARAMSHALA) AREA Fig1MapofDistrictKangraofHimachalPradeshshowingtheStudyArea 16

3 Methodology: The Online Journal of New Horizons in Education Volume 4, Issue 2 In the present investigation convenient random sampling technique was used and 18 students studying in science,commerceandartstreamsofundergraduateclassesofgovt.degreecollegedharamshalaofdistrictkangra of Himachal were surveyed. In the present investigation Environmental Ability Measure developed by Dr. Parveen KumarJhawasusedtocollectrequisitedatafromstudents.Thetoolcomprisedof51itemsandwithregardstonorms thescore37751wasconsideredinhigh,16736inaverageand715inlowcategory.also,reliabilityoftesttoolwas determinedbysplit7halfreliabilitywhichwasfoundtobe.61,r7kmethodwhichwasfoundtobe.84andtest7 retest was.74. Thus EAAS bears an adequate degree of reliability. To determine validity of the environmental awareness ability measure coefficient of correlation between the scores of the present scale and Environmental AwarenessScaleofTarnijiwascomputedwhichwasfoundtobe.83.Toanalyzetheobtaineddataonenvironmental awareness ability scale statistically technique of analysis of variance was applied. The tool was individually administeredtotheselectedsamplebytheinvestigatorhimself. Area Rural Urban ResultsandDiscussions: Itisevidentfromtheresultthatnostudentwasinlowcategoryofenvironmentalawarenesslevel(Table1). TableNo.1Sex,areaandstreamwisepercentagesofenvironmentalawarenessabilityofsampledstudents Sex Streams Male Female High Average Low High Average Low Science 1.% % Commerce 93.33% 6.67% % 6.67% Arts 8.% 2.% % 4.% Science 93.33% 6.67% % Commerce 1.% % Arts 1.% % 13.34% Amongmale1%ruralmalesciencestudentswereinhighlevelofenvironmentalawarenessabilityscalein comparison to 93.33% commerce and 8.% arts students. In urban male category in both commerce and arts stream 1% students were in high level of environmental awareness ability scale in comparison to only 93.33% sciencestudents.whereasincaseofruralfemalecategory1%sciencestudentswereinhighlevelofenvironmental awarenessabilityscaleincomparisonto93.33%commerceand6.%artsstudents.inurbanfemalecategoryboth inscienceandcommerce1%studentsareinhighlevelofenvironmentalawarenessabilityscaleincomparisonto 86.66%artsstudents. Withregardstoeffectofsexonenvironmentalawarenessthecalculatedvalueof F forthemaineffectsofsex on environmental awareness ability for df 1 was 1.71 which is much lower than table value 3.9 at.5 level of significancehencethereisnosignificancedifferenceinenvironmentalawarenessabilityofmaleandfemalestudents anditisinterpretedthatmaleandfemalestudentspossesequallevelofenvironmentalawarenessability.however Sharma(1999)foundthatgirlsstudentsattitudetowardsenvironmentwasmorefavorablethantheircounterpartboy students.also,withregardtoareathecalculatedvalueof F fordf1cameouttobe9.876whichismuchhigherthan the table value 3.9 at.5 level of significance, hence it is also interpreted that there is significant difference in environmental awareness ability of rural and urban students similar results were also reported by Vashist (21). Bhardwaj (24) has found no significant interactional effect of area of residence and sex towards environment education.likewise,streamwisethecalculatedvalueof F fordf 2 cameoutbe6.918whichishigherthantable value 3.5 at.5 level of significance. Hence it is interpreted that there is significant difference between environmentalawarenessabilityofstudentsbelongingtoscience,commerceandartstreams.however,khalid(21) foundnostatisticaldifferenceinenvironmentalawarenesslevelofscienceandnonsciencestudents. Withregardtointeractionaleffectoftypeofsexandareathecomputedvalueof F fordf1cameouttobe 3.438whichislowerthanthetablevalue3.9at.5levelofsignificance.Henceitisinterpretedthattypeofsexand areaofstudentsdonotinfluenceeachothersignificantlyintheircombinedinfluenceonenvironmentalawareness ability. Similarly, the computed value of F for interactional effects of type of sex and stream wise on the environmentalawarenessofsecondaryschoolstudentsfordf2cameouttobe2.7whichisalsomuchlowerthan the table value 3.5 at.5 level of significance, hence it is interpreted that type of sex and academic streams of studentsdonotinfluenceeachothersignificantly.likewise,computedvaluefortheinteractionaleffectoftypeofarea andacademicstreamsonenvironmentalawarenessofsecondaryschoolstudentsfordf2cameouttobe2.899,which 17

4 is also much lower than the table value 3.5 at.5 level of significance. Hence, it is interpreted that area and academicstreamsdonotinfluenceeachothersignificantlyintheircombinedinfluenceonenvironmentalawareness abilityofstudents.similarresultswerereportedbybhardwaj(24)onattitudeofseniorschoolstudentstowards environmentaleducation.whencombinedinteractionaleffectofsex,areaandacademicstreamswascalculatedthe computed value of F for df 2 came out to be which is much lower than table value 4.73 at.1 level of significance(table2). TableNo.2Summarytableofanalysisofvarianceofenvironmentalawarenessabilityscalescoreoftypeof sex,areaandstreamofstudents SourceofVariance SumofSquare df MeanSquare F Ratio Sex(A) Area(B) * Stream(C) * A B A C B C A B C ErrorofVariance Total (*Significanceat.5levelofsignificancefordegreeoffreedom1/168and2/168) Hence,itisinterpretedthattypeofsex,areaandsocialcategoryofstudentsalsodonotinfluenceeachother significantly in their combined influence on environmental awareness ability of students. Means of environmental awarenessabilityscalescoresofmaleandfemalestudentsofruralandurbanareasandstreamwisehasalsobeen showninfig2and3. FigNo.2Meansofenvironmentalawarenessabilityscalescoresofmaleandfemalestudentsofruralandurban areas Male Female Rural Urban 18

5 Male Female Fig No.3 Means of environmental awareness ability scale scores of male and female students of science, commerceandartstreams Thus, it is very much evident from the present study that college students have fairly good environmental awarenesslevel.studentsareagreatforceandcanplayabigroleinprotectionofenvironmentiftheyaretimely guided and helped regarding the understanding of environmental issues. The present study thus provided us an insighttothelevelofenvironmentalawarenessamongcollegestudents.tofurtherincreaseenvironmentalawareness abilityofstudentsintegrationofenvironmentaleducationintocurriculum,teacherstrainingandtrainingoftrainers, campaignswithreligiousleadersandforums,workingthroughcommunityleaders,developmentanddistributionof resource material, conducting of extra7curricular activities and last but not the least the campaign through mass media has to be started keeping in mind the holistic approach. Mann (1983) also found that these activities bear positive fruits. Let us conserve, recycle, renew, reforest, replenish, litigate, legislate, mitigate, minimize, penalize, pressurize,andprosecuteallwhatisneededtoreviveandrejuvenateourenvironmentforbetterfutureofourcoming generations. Acknowldement:TheauthorishighlythankfultoDr.KartarSinghThakur(Professor)inEducationDepartment ofeducationatinternationalcentrefordistanceeducationandopenlearning(icdeol)himachalpradeshuniversity SummerHillShimla75forhiseminencehelpandguidanceinthepresentresearchwork. References: Science Commerce Art Arunkumar,J.(212).Astudyonassessmentofenvironmentalawarenessamongteachertraineesinteacher traininginstitutes.international*journal*of*research*in*social*sciences2(3): Bhardwaj, O. P. (24). A study on attitude of senior secondary school students towards environmental education.m.phil.dissertationsubmittedtohimachalpradeshuniversitysummerhillshimla. Kant,S.andSharma,Y.(213).Theenvironmentalawarenessofsecondaryschoolstudentswithreferenceto theirintelligence.bpr*technologia:*a*journal*of*science,*technology*&*management*vol2(1): Khalid, T. (21). Pre service elementary teacher misconceptions in respect to three environmental issues, DissertationAbstractInternational,Vol.(61)8. Khan,S.H.(213).Astudyofattitudetowardsenvironmentalawarenessinrelationtocertainvariablesamong seniorsecondaryschoolstudents.international*global*research*analysisvol.2(4):42744.v Mann, A. (1983). A study entitled creating awareness among high school students about environmental pollutionthrougheducationanexperimentalstudy.m.ed.dissertationsubmittedtopunjabuniversitychandigarh. Sharma, R. C. (1999). Attitude of high school students towards environmental education. M.Ed. dissertation submittedtohimachalpradeshuniversitysummerhillshimla75. Sundaravalli, T. (212). Student teacher s awareness on environmental pollution. International* Journal* of* Teacher*Educational*Research*(IJTER)*Vol.1(4):

6 Vashist,K.N.(21).Astudyonawarenessattitudeandbehaviorrelatedtoenvironmentwithreferenceto educationandothercorrelatesinselectedindustrialareasofhimachalpradesh.ph.d.thesissubmittedtohimachal PradeshUniversitySummerHillShimla75. 2