AMU scholar flags gaps in environmental education, calls for curriculum reform

Keshav Agarwal Pilibhit: An Aligarh Muslim University research scholar, a native of Pilibhit, has published a paper in the Australian Journal of Environmental Education, highlighting gaps in India’s school system and calling for curriculum reform.The study argues that ecological crises are often presented as apolitical facts rather than issues linked to broader questions of justice.Researcher Mohammad Saif Qureshi, 21, from a farming family in Sherpur village, said that while India faces water stress and urban air pollution driven by political and economic choices, formal education does not equip students to engage with what he terms the “politics of Earth”.Explaining his findings, Saif said the study compares a formal school in the National Capital Region (NCR) with an informal community learning centre in Jharkhand. In the NCR school, environmental education largely relies on rote learning for board exams. His analysis of local textbooks found that over 95% of the content avoids discussion on political or systemic drivers of environmental degradation.Instead, the curriculum presents environmental crises as individual moral failings, focusing on behavioural solutions such as the “4 Rs” — reduce, reuse, recycle and refuse. Students, he said, are not equipped to question industrial pollution or governance issues, leading to what he describes as a “crisis of agency”.In contrast, a community learning centre in Jharkhand uses environmental education as a tool for awareness and engagement. Students are taught to navigate legal aspects of local resource conflicts, combining ecological knowledge with lessons on constitutional rights and procedural justice. The study notes that this approach links classroom learning with lived experiences and builds critical understanding.Saif said India’s water resources are under stress, noting that the country has 18% of the world’s population but about 4% of its freshwater resources (UNESCO, 2020). He added that over-extraction for agriculture and industry has led to declining groundwater levels, particularly in northern regions.He also pointed out that rivers such as the Ganga and Yamuna carry untreated sewage, industrial effluent and agricultural runoff (CPCB, 2022), highlighting gaps in regulation and resource management.The study calls for changes in environmental education, suggesting that schools introduce assignments where students analyse local environmental issues by examining the policies linked to them.It also recommends the use of “Local Environmental Data Platforms” (LEDP) to enable students to work with district-level data, such as air quality, instead of generalised national figures. The paper adds that science education should include historical perspectives on resource use and ethical questions around emerging technologies.To support these changes, Saif proposes a National Environmental Education Reform Fund (NEERF) backed by polluter-pays levies, and a shift from rote-based assessments to project-based learning to encourage critical thinking.