Introduction
The
natural environment in which we live in as human beings and animal species
needs to be taken care of such that it can sustain us in the present and future
times. People have to be educated on how to go about the process of taking care
of the fauna and flora. This type of education has been termed conservation
education. Conservation education isthe effort to conserve and increase
awareness of the wildlife species and natural resources, fauna and flora
through systematic methods, programs and activities and using educational tools
as a medium to awake human feelings toward living together in a better world. www.izea.net.
It is imperative to mention that different scholars define conservation in a
variety of ways to the extent that it is sometimes used interchangeably with
environmental education and as such this essay will use the concepts in
alternation.
This
conservation education has made its way into the school curriculum through
infusion or integration. According to Roedel, El-Ghazaly & Aberle (1998) integration
implies restructuring learning activities to help students build connections
between topics and subjects. Although this is a good approach to educating
pupils about conservation education, it is, however, marred by problems in
schools.
Events leading to
infusion of Conservation Education in Botswana
In
1990 Botswana adopted a National Conservation Strategy to mediate, integrate
and
refocus
the natural resource concerns reflected in the above history and to assess
environmental
issues in the light of future human needs. The six issue areas targeted by the
NCS are; pressure on water resources, rangeland degradation, depletion of wood
resources, overuse of veld products,
industrial/urban pollution and enhancement of settlements and conservation of
wildlife, heritage and cultural resources. (National Conservation Strategy,
1990).
In
1991, the national planning Conference for Environmental Education held at the
University of Botswana led to the acceptance of a mandate by the Curriculum
Development and Evaluation (CDD) to infuse Environmental Education (EE) across
the curriculum. (Canterll & Nganunu, 1991).
In
1994, some of recommendations of the above conference wereadopted into the
Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) of 1994. For example, the teaching
of environmental education concepts in different subjects through infusion.
Rec. # 44.
In
1997, Botswana released the Vision 2016 document outlining the targets that she
aspires to achieve by upon reaching fifty years of independence. The document
states that by the year 2016 “Botswana must preserve and use its environment
and natural resources in a sustainable way” (Vision, 2016; p. 76).
In
2002, the Curriculum Development and Evaluation through the Ministry of
Education introduced the new primary schools syllabus that was in line with
recommendations of the Revised National Policy on Education of 1994. Other
reports like the Cream Wright report (1995) were also taken into account during
the development of the subject matter at the time (Curriculum Development and
Evaluation, 2002).
Area of focus
This
essay will focus its discussion in villages and or schools along the Okavango
Delta in the Ngamiland District. Although the area is occupied by various
ethnic groups in different villages like Bahambukushu of Seronga and Wayeyi of
Ikoga, they seem to experience similar problems with regards to the problems of
integrating conservation issues into the curriculum. Failure to successfully
infuse conservation issues in to the curriculum infringes the social and
economic of the people and ecology.
Challenges and practical
responses to infusion of Conservation Education in Botswana
The
infusion on of conservation education concepts into the existing curriculum
subjects is a good initiative towards teaching citizens about sustainable use
of natural resources, especially during these difficult times where the world
is experiencing financial recession. It can be catalyst to the development of
the tourism industry as the government tries to diversify its economy away from
reliance on the beef and mining industries. However, the situation on the
ground is rather hostile to the realisation of this initiative as educators are
faced with a plethora of problems in their schools. These problems are
discussed in great detail with their possible solutions below.
To
begin with, there is insufficient partnership between schools and conservation
societies on community based activities regardingconservation (Brewer, 2002). This does not mean that the efforts of the few
Non-governmental Organisations trying their best can totally be dismissed. It
has been observed that some schools lie deep in the areas of the delta that are
difficult to teach e.g. Jao Flats is a little island near Etsha 6 village and
it is thus difficult for conservation groups to reach out to the people. The
few who are able to do so, do so in risky situations like using wooden boats. Fostering
partnerships between schools and conservation groups in the region can be one
way of solving the problem stated above. Organisations like Children in the
Wilderness (CITW) can be approached to take more schools on board with their
conservation initiatives.
The
other issue affecting infusion of conservation education is lack of relevant
teaching and learning resources. In order to enrich their teaching of
conservation education concepts, teachers need additional resources which can
be human or physical. Unfortunately the local authorities in Ngamiland are
unable to provide such resources citing budgetary constraints. The few which
are provided are sometimes not relevant and appropriate to the region as they
fail to honour the fact that conservation issues are time bound and place
related. Educators can therefore invite community
expertise to share a great deal of their Indigenous Knowledge on conservation
issues with pupils. Such community elders are most likely to offer accurate
information for free.
In
his study Mosothwane (1995) asserts that a significant number of teachers in
Botswana either have no special training or are unprepared to infuse
environmental education in their teaching despite considering them as important.
Lack thereof special training can only mean that educators in Ngamiland are not
in a position of infusing quality conservation education in the regular
subjects that they may otherwise be specialists in. The few who attempt,
typically don’t connect classroom content to students’ life experiences. It is
a great challenge because conservation issues are topical and change with time hence
there is a need for regular training on emerging issues. The RNPE (1994)
recommendation #44c has it that teachers must be trained in methodologies at
both pre and in-service levels to ensure that learning results in changes in
attitudes and citizen participation in the preservation of the environment.
Tilburg
& Cooke (2005) point out that “the integration of conservation education
has been imposed on teachers and students without their consent hence difficult
for them to play an active role in
conservation agendas”(p.70). If teachers and learners were involved from the
beginning they would be more understanding, acceptance, quality and judgement
in conservation concepts. There is need to engage teachers and students in the
planning and implementation of conservation education. Thus School
Environmental Policies involving are a necessity. These policies will give
birth to school clubs which will include teachers and pupils more because the status
quo shows that the school timetable is overcrowded. (Ajiboye & Silo, 2008).
According to Tilbury & Cooke (2005) “this is a way of seeing students as
agents of change and hence involvement in decision making and developing policies
directed at solving environmental problems are decided by those preparing to
carry out the action”(p.30).
Another
problem that has been observed regarding the challenges of infusing
conservation education in the curriculum is that conservation education is not
integrated on equal footings at Primary School, Science, Social Studies and
Agriculture has more coverage on it than other subjects.This creates a situation whereby teachers skip content on
conservation education with the hope that it will be covered by other teachers
in primary schools where subject specialisation is still in place like Gumare
Primary School. To remedy the afore stated problem, conservation education or
environmental education should be taught as an independent subject and given
time slots in the school time table (Mogotsi,2007).
There
is also limited time to embark on educational trips regarding conservation
education by schools. The high demand for producing high percentage passes by
teachers has led them to rush over the content so that they can have sufficient
time revise for objective tests at the end of the term. Educational excursions
are therefore seen as waste of time by teachers and authorities who refuse to
fund such trips citing financial problems. At one point a communiqué was sent
to schools halting educational trips of any kind. This is a saddening
situationconsidering the fact that villages and schools along the Okavango
Delta could be helpful in sustaining the wetlands. In the absence of these
suggested trips, the formation of school environmental clubs and environmental
fairs could be a practical solution to the problem. In this way pupils can
learn more about conservation issues in a more practical and interesting
manner.
Implications of the
failure to successfully infuse Conservation Education in Botswana
The
failure by schools along the Okavango Delta to successfully infuse conservation
issues in the curriculum has adversely affected the social and economic life of
the people and the delta itself.
Social implications
The
products of the education system in villages along the Okavango Delta have
continue to contaminate water sources. This is the result of insufficient
education on conservation issues. Water points in schools and the villages at
large are infested with dirt putting the health of the people at risk. It is
common in villages along the delta that during the months of September and
October people go into the delta to harvest reeds. Harvesting of these reeds
take a longer time and families spend days in the wilderness with their
children and consequently missing school. There is also the problem of
human-animal conflict. Termites eat the fence posts that are built to stop
larger game from eating agricultural produce (Barbee, 2011). Some people have
been attacked by wild animals and remain with permanent disability.
Ecologicalimplications
One
of the issues of concern on the natural resource is overharvesting. People
living along the delta tend to overharvest natural for eating and financial
income especially fish. There is also the problem of poaching by the locals and
some have formed syndicates with foreigners to kill animals like elephants for
their ivory. Water pollution is also an area of concern. Without smarter water
resources management, a growing world with more people andmore activities will
demand more water and create more pollution, breaking the boundaries of
sustainability of water resources utilization. This will be aggravated by the
effects ofclimate change that is already impacting some of the planet’s most
vulnerable rivers, lakes and ecosystems. www.growingblue.com
Economicimplications
According
to Niu & Gang (2011) the overharvesting of natural resources along the
delta and poaching stated above can lead to a decline in the number of tourists
visiting the area leading to loss of revenue and jobs for the local people
working in the tourism industry. This activities lead to the failure of the
governments’ initiatives to diversify the economy away from tourism as people
in these villages seem to rely heavily on the delta for their livelihood. They
should, however, not be blamed as the government has done very little to
develop the area, thus to the rural poor people of the delta, this is their
capital since they use it for survival.
Conclusion
Conservation
Education is the teaching and learning process of how people and nature
interact in such a way that the balance of life on the environment. It is
imperative to state that it has been infused in the school curriculum as a way
of encouraging sustainable use of natural resources. Howeverconservation education
is not integrated on equal footings at Primary School yet it is among the
measures that can bring action in addressing environmental issues and problems
to save the planet. Conservation education is important as it teaches critical
thinking and problem solving skills that will empower learners to make changes
to lessen our impact upon the ecosystem. Emphasis should be pupils first hand experiences,
promotingconservation education through encouraging schools to partner with
conservation groups in the communities.
References
Action.
http://www.bioed.org/pubs/School_Partnerships.pdf Accessed 24/10/2013
Ajiboye,
J. O. & Silo, N. (2008). Enhancing
Botswana Children’s Environmental Knowledge, Attitudes
& Practices Through the School Civic Clubs. International Journal of Environmental & Science Education. Vol 3
(3). p. 105-114
Barbee,
J. (2011).Human-animal conflict? http://jeffreybarbee.blogspot.com.html.
Accessed 19/10/2013
Brewer,
C. A. (2002). Conservation Education Partnerships in School Laboratories: A
Call to
Cantrell,
M. & Nganunu, M. (1991). Environmental education in Botswana: A National Planning Conference, 7th October to 11th
October, 199.Ministry of Education. University
of Botswana. Kalahari Conservation Society. Gaborone
Curriculum
Development and Evaluation. (2002). Botswana Primary School Syllabus. Gaborone. Government Printers.
http://www.izea.net/education/38_conserveddef.pdf.
Accessed 24/10/2013.
http://growingblue.com/
Environmental Implications. Accessed 24/10/2013
Mosothwane,
M. (1991). An Assessment of Botswana Pre-serve Teachers Environmental Education Content, Knowledge,
Attitudes towards Environmental Education and concern
for Environmental Quality. A Dissertation. University of Georgia. Dissertation Abstract International.
National
Conservation Strategy. Government Paper No. 1 of 1990: 17th December 1990. Government Printers. Gaborone
Niu,
J. & Gang, Y. (2011). Point Sources of Pollution: Local Effects &its
Control; Economics, Social, Legal
& Health Implications.www.eolss.net. Accessed 21/10/2013.
Revised
National Policy on Education. (1994). Government of Botswana. Gaborone. Government Printers.
Roedel,
R. J., El-Ghazaly, S., and Aberle, J.T. (1998) “An Integrated Upper Division
Course in Electronic Materials and
Electromagnetic Engineering -Wave Phenomena for Electrical Engineers,” Proceedings, Frontiers in Education, Tempe,
AZ.
Tilbury,
D & Cooke, K. (2005). A National Review on Environmental Education &
its’ Contribution Towards
Sustainability in Australia: Framework for sustainability. Canberra: Australian Government. Department of
the Environment & Water Resources.
ARIES.
No comments:
Post a Comment