A STUDY ON THE QUALITY OF TRAINING RECEIVED BY THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ASSAM ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Today, determination of world environmental quality is a significant problem. This problem has resulted in a global effort to include aspects of environmental education in school curriculum at all levels in an appropriate manner. However, the objectives of environmental education cannot be realized by simply by infusing environmental concepts into existing curriculum. The effective infusion of environmental education into school programme is possible only when teachers have the required orientation. Therefore Pre-service teacher training on environmental education is necessary to make the teachers aware of: the goals and objectives of environmental education, the scope of curricular content and subject matter, proper methodologies to transfer knowledge and skills to students, and evaluation methods necessary to assess the effectiveness of learning outcomes (Rebello, 1994). According to Rebello any effective environmental education programme for preservice and in-service teacher education should consist of three basic elements: (i) The education needs (ii) A functional knowledge of environmental education and (iii) A grasp of educational methods and professional skills needed to impart cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills to the students. It is the teacher who would interpret and transmit the massage of EE to the students, whatever be the level of educational qualification one is concerned with. A teacher properly equipped with necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes, become an essential prerequisites for successfully introducing any programme of EE in schools. Thus, proper orientation of teachers into EE concerns is a matter of vital importance (Govinda, 1994).