PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS THROUGH SECONDARY SCHOOL: EVIDENCE FROM GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN DISTRICT PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Like teachers, educational institutions (schools) have a prime role in conveying knowledge and awareness to learners.  The progressive, trained and motivated workforce can only be nourished in environment friendly schools. They provide us great platforms for collaborating and sharing our common purpose through expanding our knowledge. The study provided an analysis to understand, document and find out secondary school role regarding environmental education. The population comprised all government high school teachers of grades 9 and 10 (both genders) in district Peshawar, Pakistan. The sample comprised 40 schools (20 boys & 20 girls) selected through stratified random sample; whereas, selection of schools in rural and urban areas in district Peshawar was made through cluster sampling. One teacher from each school was randomly selected from sampled teachers for interview, which makes a total of 40 teachers. The data was collected through in-depth semi structured interviews, which were further analyzed by thematic analysis. The results elicited that half of the teachers of the schools did not have knowledge and understanding of environment and environmental education. In addition, the respondents believed that secondary schools in the research area also did not promote environmental education due to lack of activities in the schools. The study recommended to include drills, workshops and associated activities regarding environmental education. It is further recommended to enhance teachers understanding regarding environmental education, which ultimately helps in achieving green and clean environment.