CONSCIOENTISATION OF WASTE
MANAGEMENT FOR BETTER ENVIRONMENT: A CRITICAL SURVEY AMONG PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS
All
countries of the worldfacewith severe crisis of waste disposal. Along with
industrialization and development all over the world, waste became huge
byproduct. The waste management has become a serious problem even for the
developed countries as it needs immense investmentfor the disposal or recycles
waste into other forms of non-pollutingmatters. Improper waste management has
been affecting the local communitiesas a threat to the environment. Now the time
has exceeded to havea rethink about the developments; whether it is sustainable
or not. Even space, ocean and the lands like Antarctica became polluted by the irrational
greed of human beings. Countries like India with over population facing more
crisis than any other countries in the world. As it is the fact, thereis
highnecessity of researches in the field of waste management for a better
environment. Because the next generation has the right to relish with
non-polluted air, water and soil.
Waste materials are materials that
are not prime products for which the generator has no further use in terms of
his/her own purposes of production, transformations or consumption and of which
he /she wants to dispose. Waste may be generated during the extraction of raw
materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate or final products,
the consumption of the final products and other human activities. (The United
Nations statistics division - UNSD)
Concept of waste
Waste is a human concept as there are
no such things as waste in nature. The waste products created by a natural
process or organism become the raw materials used by other process or organism.
Recycling is predominant, so production and decomposition are well balanced and
nutritional cycles continuously support the next cycle of production and it
ensure stability and sustainability in nature system. But the man-made systems stresses
on economic value of nutrition are the dominant economic activities. These
systems always try to destruct the environment as they require massive
consumption of natural resources. The wastes come out will damage the
environment and require more natural capital in order to keep the system. This
is not sustainable as the resources and spaces are finite. The presence of
waste reduces the earth’s capacity to keep and supply new raw materials for the
future generations. So it is the duty of the man kind to find effective
solutions to overcome this crisis along with developments.
The
waste is classified into three depending on the source
1. House hold waste generally called
as municipal solid waste
2. Industrial wastes as hazardous
wastes
3. Bio medical wastes as infectious
wastes.
The present study is focused on
the management of municipal solid wastes.
Municipal
Solid wastes
Municipal solid waste consists of
house hold waste, construction and demolition debris, sanitation residue and
waste from streets. This garbage is generated mainly from residential and
commercial complexes. Hike in urbanization and change in life style, food
habits the amount of municipal wastes has been increasing rapidly. In 1947,
cities and towns in India generated an estimated 6 million tons of solid waste.
In 1997, it was about 48 million times. More than 27% of municipal waste is not
collected at all. 70% of the Indian cities lack adequate capacity to transport
it and there are no sanitary landfills to dispose the waste. The existing landfills
are neither well equipped nor well managed and are not lined properly to
protect against contamination of soil and ground water. (Edugreen.teri.res.in)
The condition is worse in the
present decade. Here comes the importance of a teacher. If education is the
process of shaping the character of an individual so as to make him fit for the
future society and the world at large, the teacher has an important role. A
teacher who knows the importance of environmental protection should always
stick on clean and unpolluted surroundings. This message and habit should be
inculcated in children from their child hood itself. For this, teachers should
be aware of the wastes and proper waste management. Keeping this in mind this
study is conducted in prospective teachers who are doing their degree in
bachelor of education belonging to various subjects such as Malayalam, English,
social science, natural science, physical science and mathematics.
Title of the study
CONSCIENTISATION OF WASTE
MANAGEMENT FOR BETTER ENVIRONMENT: A CRITICAL SURVEY AMONG PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS
Definitions of key
term
CONSCIENTISATION:
Conscientisation is a term coined by Paulo Freire. It means progressive education
givesto an individual expectingdesirable the changes in his / her conscience.
Objectives
of the study
1. To find out the level of
awareness, action competency and practice in waste management among prospective
teachers.
2. To find out the difference in
awareness, action competency and practice in waste management among prospective
teachers of arts and science subjects.
Methodology
Normative survey method is used for this present
study
Sample
Sample consists of 72 prospective
teachers belonging to Malayalam, English, Social science, Natural science,
physical science and Mathematics 12 from each subjects of a training college
based on stratified random sampling technique.
Tool
Tool used for the study is ‘the
Inventory for measuring the Awareness, Action competency and Practice of the Prospective
Teachers’. The tool is developed by the investigator.
Data collection
procedure
Data collected from prospective
teachers of NSS Training College, Ottapalam, Kerala in a client friendly
approach.
Analysis and
interpretations
For collecting the data investigator
has circulated the inventory among 72 prospective teachers- 12 students each
from Malayalam, English, social science, physical science and mathematics
optional subjects. The inventory contains 48 questions. Among them, 16
questions are related to awareness on waste management, 16 under action
competency and the rest 16 are about the practices on waste management. In the
awareness dimension, the questions asked are based on the knowledge of the
students about waste and waste management. In action competency, the questions
asked are about their readiness forpropermanagement of municipal solid waste
and its disposal systems. Under the dimension waste management practice, the
researcher collects data in order to know whether prospective teachers are
practicing waste management properly in their day today life. Each question has
two options as answers and each right answer carries one mark. Therefore the
total marks under each head are 16. The score may vary from 0 to 16. The scores
of the students are divided into three as high, average and low levels of
awareness, action competency and practice. The student teacher scores 13 or
above in each sect is considered student with high levelof awareness. Scores
10-12 is considered as average and below 10 scores are considered low level of
awareness, action competency and practice.
Score of each student were tabulated
and segregated them to High, Average and Low groups. The consolidated scores
and the corresponding level of the students are furnished in Table on to Table
3.
Table 1
Score of the level of awareness of
student teachers on waste management
N= 72
|
Sl.
No
|
Level of
awareness
|
Number
of students
|
Percentage
(%)
|
|
1
|
High
|
34
|
47.22
|
|
2
|
Average
|
30
|
41.66
|
|
3
|
Low
|
8
|
11.11
|
From the table, it is clear that,
there were 34 students out of 72 have high awareness on waste management. It
means 34 students out of 72 gained 13 or more score in the 16 given to the sect
of awareness in the inventory. 30 student teachers have average level of awareness
with a score in between 10 and 12, and 8 of them have low level of awareness in
waste management with a score of 9 or below. Based on the analysis it can be
stated that most of the student teachers are possessing high level of awareness
on waste management and a very less number of student teachers are with low
level of awareness.
Table 2
Score of the level of action competency
of Student teachers on waste management
|
number
|
Level
of awareness
|
Number
of students
|
Percentage
(%)
|
|
1
|
High
|
38
|
52.77
|
|
2
|
Average
|
22
|
30.55
|
|
3
|
Low
|
12
|
16.67
|
When we consider the action
competency, 52.77 % of students have high level of action competency. 30.55 %
of students have an average level of action competency and 16.67 % of students
have low level of action competency. It is clear that student teachers are
varied on the variable action competency. Most of the student teachers are
having high level of action competency.
Table 3
Score of the level of Practice of
Student teachers on waste management
|
number
|
Level
of awareness
|
Number
of students
|
Percentage
(%)
|
|
1
|
High
|
8
|
11.11
|
|
2
|
Average
|
30
|
41.66
|
|
3
|
Low
|
34
|
47.22
|
In the case of practice in waste
management it is disappointing to note that only 11.11% of prospective teachers
are practicing waste management in a higher level. 41.66 % of students are
practicing waste management in an average level and 47.22 % of students fall in
low level of waste management practice. Though most of the student teachers are
having high level of awareness, they are having very low level of action
competency. It is very contradictory.
Discussion
Most of the student teachers are
having high level of awareness. Of course, most of the student teachers are
having high awareness, but it is not satisfactory. All of the student teachers
must have high level of awareness.
In the case of action competency,
52.77 % are having high level of action competency.Average level of action
competency can be seen in 30.55 % students and the balance is with low level of
action competency. Though most of the students are with high level of action
competency, it is not satisfying. Action competency in waste management should
be developed more in prospective teachers.
In the case of practice in waste
management, it is disappointing to know that the higher level of practice can
be seen only in 11.11 % of students. The prospective teachers who have to play
as role models are very pitiable in the case of practice. It is clear that even
though most of the student teachers are aware of waste management and also
having action competency, most of them are not practicing it in their day today
life. So there should be amble opportunities for the prospective teachers to
practice the right model of waste management. They should have to develop
readiness to practice the waste management.
To find out the difference in
prospective teachers of arts group and science group the investigatordivided
the prospective teachers into two groups as arts students studying English,
Malayalam and social science optional subjects and as science students studying
in physical science,natural science and mathematics optional subjects. The
total marks scored by the arts students and science students under each
category were calculated separately and found the percentage.
The score is calculated on the
basis of the total score the obtained for the total questions in the inventory.
The total items for inventing awareness, action competency and practice are 16
and number of students are 36 for arts subject and science subject. Then the
total score will be 16*36 = 576. The obtained score for awareness in arts
subject is 412 and science subject is 458. It is 422 and 438 respectively in
action competency and 332 for arts subject and 368 for science subject in the
case of practice. Details are given in
table 4.
Table 4
Total score obtained by arts and
science optional subject groups in awareness, action competency and practice
|
Serial
number
|
dimensions
|
Score of students
from arts subjects
|
Percentage
|
Score of students
from science group
|
percentage
|
|
1
|
Awareness
|
412
|
71.53%
|
458
|
79.51%
|
|
2
|
Action
competency
|
422
|
73.26%
|
438
|
76.04%
|
|
3
|
Practice
|
332
|
57.64%
|
368
|
63.88%
|
The students from science group
have scored 79.51 % of marks for awareness and 71.53% by arts students. When
considering action competency the prospective teachers from science stream have
scored 76.04 % and arts students scored 73.26 %. In the case of practice in
waste management the students of science group scored 63.88 and 57.64 scored by
arts students. From these, it is clear that students from science group are outnumbered
the students from arts group in awareness, action competency and practice
Even though, it is generally
saying that arts students are more socially committed or working with
communities more than the science group students they lack awareness, action
competency and practice of waste management in their daily dealings. So the
prospective teachers who belong to the arts stream should be given more
awareness in the social issue and they should get the chances to study about
proper waste management system and a practical knowledge should be developed in
them.
Conclusion
From the findings of the study,
it is clear that the science students are more aware, more action competent and
they practice more in waste management than the prospective teachers of arts
stream. From the light of the analysis, it can be concluded that in teacher
education colleges there should be programs for making the prospective teachers
more aware, more competent and practice more in waste management both in
science and arts group of student teachers.
Though the curriculum and
syllabus prevailing in our universities contains papers on environmental
education,waste management practices haven’tgot much importance. Even well
educated people are not practicing waste management(proper disposal of
waste)either at home or at public place. Thus waste became a serious barrier in
our way to development. If we can make all types of people aware of this
serious issue and make them practice the proper way of waste disposal, it will
support nation to play an important role in the sustainable development of its
own and the world at large.
In the light of this
investigation, it is suggested that waste management should be included in the curriculum
and the proper practice should be assured by the student teachers, because they
are the moulders of the future generations. Every individual in any institution
must take steps to do social practices for cleaning institutional premises,
public places and their own houses. The programmes “Swatch bharath” announced
and initiated by the honorable IndianPrime Minister Sri Narendra Modi should be
shouldered by all institutions especially educational institutions and Teacher
Education institutions.`No nation can go beyond the level of its teachers` is a
saying. So the teacher education institutions should be developed in such a
manner that the future generation will safe in their hands of the teachers who
are getting adequate training in waste management along with other subjects. -DR . KP ANIL KUMAR
