Parents of students studying in ICSE schools in the city have blamed the ICSE board for introducing Environmental Education (EE) as a compulsory, 100-mark subject in the standard X curriculum. They have written to the ICSE Council in New Delhi asking it to make EE a graded subject for a trial period of three or four years. The Supreme Court had ruled that Environmental Education should be compulsorily taught in schools all over the country from 2005-06.
“The SSC board has introduced Environmental Education as a graded paper. However, ICSE students are at a disadvantage as, because of the sudden introduction of the subject, they are more likely to score less marks which will affect the final percentage,” Kiran Shekhar, a member of the NGO, Forum for Fairness in Education.
Parents from ICSE schools, including Cathedral and John Connon High School, Jamnabai Narsee English High School, Learners Academy among others, have begun signature drives to protest the compulsory paper. The parents allege that most schools do not even have a dedicated teacher for the subject.
Parents feel that the spirit of environment studies is not implemented in the true sense by making it marks-oriented paper.
Dr Anjali Chabbria, a psychologist whose daughter studies in Jamnabai Narsee School said, “I was involved in a signature campaign protesting the decision. When marks come into picture, environment is restricted to just classrooms followed by tuitions and pressure etc. The importance of the environment cannot be learnt this way. The kids are already burdened with studies. An additional subject will only make things worse.” Parents wanted a practical approach towards the subject rather than a theoretical one.
Perin Pagli, secretary of Association of ICSE Schools of Maharashtra region said, “We had written to the board asking them to make EE a graded subject. They said they are helpless in the wake of the SC order. But, we will raise this issue again.”
