ANNOUNCEMENTS
From climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion to pollution, the current environmental challenges are complex and at their highest. This creates a paramount need for inhabitants of this planet to be environmentally aware, conscious, and action-driven. And, environmental education aims to fulfil this need. Thus, the current study aimed to explore the evolution of environmental education in India and to assess the current state and impact of environmental education on environmental behaviour among secondary school students in Delhi. The research employed a mixed-method approach. It included a thematic analysis of national education commissions, policies and curriculum framework. Alongside a survey to assess the environmental behaviour among 215 secondary school students and 32 school teachers to understand the pedagogical approach applied by them to teach environmental education. The results thus obtained show that there exists a gap between environmental awareness and action, the students are environmentally aware but several factors influence their environmental behaviour. Also, environmental education has a positive and statistically significant association with the determinants of environmental behaviour under the study namely, promotional (β = 0.51; α<0.001) and proactive (β = 0.53; α<0.001) environmental behaviour, attitude (β = 0.38; α<0.001) towards the environment and self-efficacy (β = 0.31; α<0.001). The findings reveal the vital role of environmental education in nurturing environmental stewardship among students.
Keywords: Environmental Education, Environmental Behaviour, Awareness, Students, Environmental Attitudes.
