The importance of waste management will not be lost on younger minds, if the Education department has its way.
The Department, in association with BBMP, is planning to introduce eco-friendly subjects in the Class 10 curriculum. If successfully implemented, students will soon be learning about the ‘disposal of bio-degradable and nondegradable waste’ as part of their science curriculum from the next academic year. Lessons on proper disposal of e-waste, segregation and recycling will also form part of the syllabus.
Current projects
This year, students in Class nine and 10 are all set to be made aware of the garbage problem through school-sanctioned activities. Talks are already on to extend this plan to a wider section of students next year, including those from Class six to 10.
The activities will take various forms, explained Mudambadithaya, coordinator of the Karnataka Textbook Society. “To give an example, students may have to go around the City to different neighbourhoods and localities where garbage disposal is an issue. They will then be asked to develop a project on the solutions they can offer for the problem,” he said.
New chapter
Class six students, learning in the Kannada medium, will find their 2013-14 academic year textbooks containing a new four-page chapter on garbage and its disposal.
The new chapter will cover segregation of liquid waste from solid waste, how to reuse and recycle waste, measures needed for the proper disposal of e-waste and the steps to be taken while collecting and dumping garbage.
“These lessons will be about basics such as the ill-effects of burning plastic, how one should properly dispose of solid waste like glass, plastic, computer spare parts and discarded mobile phones,” Mudambadithaya said. One of the guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework (2005) is to go beyond textbooks, he said.
“In the past, awareness was successfully spread through textbooks on issues such as dog bites, traffic and child marriage,” she said.
Y T Gurumurthy, managing director of the Society, said whenever a pressing issue emerges, such as the current crisis over garbage, the textbook authority has taken the initiative to include it in textbooks.
“This is an effort to strike a balance between pedagogy and providing accurate information on relevant civic issues,” he said.
