Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Environment Health Perceptions, Attitudes and Practices among Higher Secondary School students in Kochi City
Environment
Health Perceptions, Attitudes and Practices among Higher Secondary School
Students in Kochi City
Dr.
Rachel George .M
Assistant Professor in Natural Science
St. Joseph College of Teacher Education for
Women
Ernakulam. Kochi.
Back
ground of the Problem
Rapid urbanization of Kochi and suburbs are leading to pollution and
ecological imbalance. The pressure on infrastructural facilities and core
sector services is severely felt not only in Kochi but also in the nearby
Municipalities and Panchayats. Urban poor are the worst hit. Urban poor, who
live in small houses, suffer due to flooding of their dwelling places as the
drainage system is clogged by solid wastes especially non-degradable waste.
They are also the main victims of various kinds of diseases. Most of them
cannot afford to spend their meager income on Mosquito repellants, mosquito
curtains/nets, mosquito screens etc. Rat menace is also rampant in such areas.
Solid Waste
Management-A Thrust Area
Solid Waste Management is the thrust
area, as it is found to be the ROOTCAUSE for many other problem areas like Water Logging,
Mosquito Menace, and Environmental Pollution etc. Solid Waste Management (SWM), which is an obligatory function of the
Urban Local Body(ULB), is in a pathetic state resulting in problems of flood,
water logging, mosquito menace, sanitation and environmental and health related
problems.
Kochi Metro City presently has a network of community collection points,
a significant number of which are open points. The generators, either through
door step waste collection system or through bring system deposit the waste in
secondary collection points or throw waste into open spaces / drains / water
bodies. Subsequently, the waste from collection points is collected by manual /
mechanical loading into fleet of vehicles and finally disposed in an environmentally fragile site.
The domestic waste
collected from door to door by the collection agencies (mainly by Kudumbasree & private agencies) is presently
transported to certain temporarily identified transfer locations near Bus
stand, under bridges etc. in tricycles provided by the ULB. ULB trucks/trailer
containers collect waste from these locations and take it to a temporary
Dumping yard.
Table 1: Present Data on Solid Waste Generation
Type of waste
|
Quantity in MT /day
|
% of Total
|
|
1.
|
House hold domestic
|
330
|
55
|
2.
|
Hotels/Eateries
|
36
|
6
|
3.
|
Market/Slaughter houses
|
30
|
5
|
4.
|
Shops/Commercial Establishments
|
90
|
15
|
5.
|
Building construction waste
|
30
|
5
|
6.
|
Garden trimmings/tree cuttings
|
24
|
4
|
7.
|
Institutional waste
|
30
|
5
|
8.
|
Industrial waste(non hazardous)
|
18
|
3
|
9.
|
Hospital/Clinics
|
12
|
2
|
Total
Waste Generated /Day
|
600
|
100%
|
|
Waste collected /day
|
240
|
||
Collection efficiency
|
40%
|
Kochi and suburban areas ,which together is
poised for massive investment in various sectors including tourism- needs to
embark on an economically productive and effective waste management for better
environment , sustainable development, employment, poverty alleviation and
economic growth. The main issue identified is that there is no proper
system of collection, processing and management of solid waste. The problem is
acute in the Corporation and Municipal areas with waste thrown into canals,
drains and road side. Collection efficiency is only 40%.
The proposal is to create a solid waste management taskforce, create
awareness among the public by live demonstration of using the waste for biogas
generation, encouraging segregation of solid waste involving public
participation, acquisition of modern environment friendly vehicles to carry the
waste and development of proper processing system at Brahmapuram. The whole
programme of Solid Waste Management is proposed to be taken up with Public
Private Participation at different stages i.e, in creation awareness,
segregation at source and in collection methods. The role of residential
associations is also considered crucial in this aspect.
A survey was conducted by the
investigator and identified some of the agencies who adopted eco friendly sustainable
methods for managing their biodegradable solid wastes. They successfully manage
the garbage at the very point of generation, without allowing it to accumulate
and turn toxic.
They are
1. The Vermicomposting Plant of Surabhi Nagar
Kakkanad
The residents association of Surbhi Nagar ( a place near Kakkanad )
consists of 250 residents. Their Vermicomposting plant consists of 7 concrete
collection tanks and 4 compost tanks with earthworms.The wastes are collected
and used daily .The prepared compost were being sold to private agencies.
2. The
Bio Bin system (aerobic microbial composting system) in Skyline Melrose
buildings,Chembumukku
The ecofriendly biodegradable solid
waste management practiced in this high rise apartment is the Bio Bin
system.The Bio bins to process biodegradable organic waste are present on the
top of the 13 storied building.The wastes from 75 flats were collected daily
and treated in the 4 bio bins and the
compost generated are sold to private agencies.
3. BioGas
plant and Vermicomposting pit in Sahredaya Welfare Society, Ponnurunny.
Sahrudaya
Welfare Society runs a project for biodegradable solid waste management. They
maintain a beautiful garden. They have terracotta jars and concrete tanks for
vermicomposting and a bio gas plant. The generated compost is used for the
garden and the bio gas for the burner in the kitchen for almost 1 hour.
4. Bio
Gas plant in Kakkanad Market
Bio
gas plant implemented by Ernakulam district panchayath. All sorts of wastes
from the market like vegetable remains, poultry wastes as well as waste water
are used for the plant. It reduces the energy cost for electricity. The manure
generated was collected in an interval of 30 days.
Waste
management is a broad subject that encompasses the wide range of subjects.
Basically it comprises of picking up materials that regarded as waste and
disposing it so that it do not cause any harm to the environment. It also
involves the transportation of the waste material to the dumping site for
disposing them safely and suitably.The effective way waste management consists
of inspecting it for discovering its composition, picking it safely, acceptable
shipping methods and method of its ultimate disposal or recycling it in
reprocessing facility.
For the conservation of our environment,
students and the common man are to be made aware of the environment and the
importance of its components. The relationship between human health and his
environment is that they are the two sides of a coin. We improve our living
conditions and increase our comforts but the alterations to the environment may
be harmful to our health. Man has become a potent factor in modifying the environment
and at times up setting natures balance endangering his own existence.
Need
and Significance of the Study
The
investigator strongly believes that educations has a vital role in preventing and
solving environmental problems and maintain the environment in an appropriate
balanced way. In students’ life, higher secondary level is the best stage, in
which students are highly impulsive to their inner and outer world. That’s why
respond quickly to any kind of change. It is the right time to inculcate the
right awareness among them. For that if environmental pollution and its related
aspects are given adequate coverage in the syllabi, it can create a positive
awareness among the students. By developing the right awareness among secondary
school students who are the future generation, we can save the mother earth to
an extent. It is with this intention the
study was undertaken, to find out the awareness
of Solid waste management among Higher Secondary School students. The study is
entitled as
“Environment
Health Perceptions, Attitudes and Practices among Higher Secondary School
Students in Kochi City”
Objectives
1.
To
analyse the content prescribed for Higher Secondary school students
2.
To
find out the awareness about solid waste management among higher secondary
school students.
Hypothesis
The higher secondary school students have only
medium awareness regarding solid waste management.
Methodology
Survey method was used for
collecting relevant data for the present study.
Sample selected for the study
Stratified random sampling technique
was followed and the sample for the study constituted representative groups of
higher secondary school students (N-250). In selecting the samples for the
study, care was taken to give due representation to locale of school, type of
management and gender. Thus a total of 250 higher Secondary students comprising
127male and 123 female students were selected. The schools were situated in both
rural and urban area. Also different types of management like aided and government,
unaided were taken into consideration.
Table 2: Distribution of Samples of Higher Secondary students for testing
Awareness in Solid
Waste Management
Category
|
Subcategory
|
Number of students
|
|
Locality
|
Rural
|
Boys
|
49
|
Girls
|
51
|
||
Urban
|
Boys
|
78
|
|
Girls
|
72
|
||
Gender
|
Male
|
127
|
|
Female
|
123
|
||
Type
of management
|
Govt
|
Boys
|
27
|
Girls
|
23
|
||
Unaided
|
Boys
|
22
|
|
Girls
|
28
|
||
Aided
|
Boys
|
78
|
|
Girls
|
72
|
||
Table
3 :
List of Institutions selected
for the study
Sl.
No
|
Name of the school
|
Type of management
|
Locality
|
1
|
ST.
Alberts H.S.S Ernakulam
|
Boys
|
Urban
|
2
|
Sree
Narayana H.S.S Ernakulam
|
Mixed
|
Urban
|
3
|
L.M.C.C
H.S.S Chathiath
|
Mixed
|
Rural
|
4
|
Govt
H.S.S Njarakkal
|
Mixed
|
Rural
|
5
|
ST
Antony’s H.S.S Kacheripady
|
Girls
|
Urban
|
Tools and Techniques used
The following tools and techniques were
used.
1. Content analysis
2. Awareness test on Waste management
3.
School environmental profile
Major
findings and conclusions
The findings based on the analysis
and interpretation of the data can be summarized as follows.
Findings
1. In the analysis of the higher secondary
syllabus it is found that the Botany text book of the higher secondary curriculum
contains the areas of waste management. In the unit ecology and environment,
ecological concepts are explained superficially and not deeply.
The topics included are
Integrated waste
water treatment, Solid wastes, Remedy for plastic waste, Agro chemicals and
their effects, Organic farming, Radioactive wastes, Green house effect and
Global warming, Ozone depletion in the stratosphere, Microbes in Sewage
treatment, in production of biogas, as biological agents, as biofertilizers are
included in the prescribed curriculum.
The awareness of higher secondary
students who studied the above topics is not satisfactory as it was evident
from the waste management awareness test given to them. Thus it is clear that even
though the topics of importance of solid waste management are present in the
higher secondary curriculum, they are not sufficient for enhancing the
awareness of waste management.
2.
Among Higher secondary school students 34 % of
total sample shows low awareness, 41.2 % of total sample showed medium
awareness and 24.8 %of total sample showed high awareness towards solid waste
management.
3.
Analysis of
School Environment Profile
·
The analysis revealed that in Govt.
schools in rural areas had no proper initiators for conducting cleaning and no
one cleans their school regularly. Aided schools (90%) and unaided schools (80%)
in urban area had sweepers for daily school cleaning and students were doing
the daily class cleaning. In Aided Girls schools when compared to boys and
mixed schools, the daily classroom cleaning was done by the students
themselves.
·
The analysis revealed that majority of
the Aided schools (60%) had well arranged campus cleaning programmes. The Unaided
schools in urban area (20%) under study had no regular campus cleaning
programmes. Only one of government
school was arranging campus cleaning programmes. By analyzing the participation
of students in campus cleaning programme irrespective of type of management,
gender or locale 100% students took part in cleaning programmes, if arranged in
schools. It was also revealed that Unaided schools in urban areas (80%) made their students to participate in
recycling programmes, so that the importance of waste management become
significant to the students.
·
From the analysis it
was clear that all schools have separate toilet for boys and girls and were
regularly cleaned. Students in Govt schools in rural area responded that their
school toilets were not clean. From the data it was clear that Aided Higher
Secondary Schools in urban area responded that their schools have cleaning
implements like brooms dust bins, pans etc available for classroom cleaning.
The unaided schools in urban area do not have any cleaning implements for the
use of students.
·
Analysis of the data revealed that Unaided
Schools urban area (60% )and govt. school in rural area(20%) had vermicompost
pit for their degradable solid waste management. Aided schools urban areas have
no vermicomposting facility. No schools under study had a bio-gas plant. Urban
aided schools disposed their waste by burning.
Aided schools in urban area and Govt. schools in urban area had pits and
tanks for collecting sewage. In one of the urban aided schools plastic was
banned. In majority of the schools, irrespective of their type of management or
locale, the students don’t know how their laboratory wastes were disposed.
·
The analysis reveals that majority of
the Aided school (80%) held special celebrations connected with environmental
awareness. 40% of the Unaided schools and 20% Govt. schools arrange special
celebrations related to environmental awareness.
·
The response of the students regarding the
lack of hygiene in the class room due to solid waste revealed that 40 % of
schools don’t have routine classroom cleaning programmes as students feel
dirtiness in the class room due to solid waste ( Govt 20%, Rural 20%). In 60 %
of the schools, students don’t feel dirtiness in the class room due to solid
waste.
·
60% of higher secondary schools
responded that their school has enough infrastructure facilities. (Govt.
20%,Aided 40%, Unaided 20%,Rural 40%,Urban 40%). A majority of Schools
responded that their class rooms have proper air circulation and lighting.
(Aided 60%, Unaided 20% Rural 20%, urban 60%) The analysis reveals that the all
schools have gardens. Only 40 % of higher secondary school having rain water
harvesting facilities. All schools at higher secondary level responded that
their schools have proper road and transporting facilities.
·
The response of the students regarding
to the availability of books and journals in their schools revealed that
majority of the Aided schools (60%) are far better in providing this facility
compared to the Unaided schools (20%) and Govt schools(20%). In Urban schools(60%)
provide sufficient library facilities
compared to rural schools (20%).
Conclusion
From the study it can
be concluded that irrespective of the
management (govt, aided and unaided),curriculum or facilities provided
by the institution, majority of higher secondary school students come under low
and medium group with respect to awareness
towards solid waste management. But students from Urban schools possess good
awareness than rural schools.
Even though
the academic community including curriculum planners, educationalists and
teachers are quite aware of the need for the development of environmental
awareness at every level, it has been neglected till recently in our
educational system. Unfortunately our present method of teaching environmental
science is based on giving information as bits. It demands rote memorization of
concepts, facts and principles and through this traditional methods of
teaching, the objectives of environmental education are not realized. Therefore
we are in need of new strategies for developing environmental awareness which
will help to accomplish definite goals.
The Strategies, Programmes and Projects for
solid waste management is drawn out by the “SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT TASK FORCE”
consisting of various convergent departments, community based organizations,
civil society organizations and voluntary technical experts. One of their
highlights is as, Awareness Programmes: Starting from educational institutions.
100% of the students will be covered in a phased manner. This will also be part
of the environment training.
The
projected growth in population in the fast developing Kochi City and Suburbs
will bring a lot of pressure on the Solid Waste Management. It is also
recognize that Solid Waste Management is one of the most critical sectors to be
attended on war footing. Resistance to change can mostly be overcome by
Awareness cum Live Demonstration. The participation of all the school children
will make the task easier for the future. In the long run, when they see the accrued
benefits, an attitudinal shift will take place, which will make the waste
management programme sustainable, and initiatives irreversible.
Reference
1.
Abraham, M and Arjun N.K. (2005). Environmental
attitude and pro-environmental behavior. Among Secondary school children,
Edutrak, Vol. 4, No, 6.
2. Bainer Hall and Davis (1998). Carbon
storage during biodegradation of municipal solid waste components in laboratory
scale landfills. Global Biogeochemical cycles,
12(2), pp 373-380.
3. Benitez E. (2002). The impact of mechanical-biological
pretreatment on the landfill behavior of
solid wastes. Proceedings of the
workshop on Biowaste, Brussels, pp.16.
Seville, Spain 602 PP.
5. Dominguez.J, Edwards C.A, (2006). Optimizing waste treatment systems. Part B. Analysisand scenarios for the Nether lands. Resource conservation Recycling 48,pp. 227-248.
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