> ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION |
Environmental Education
It is important to understand how people and the environment can live together in harmony. People often take their own environment for granted and appreciation of it may not come automatically. At the same time, the daily struggle for survival for many people in the areas surrounding the park does not allow them the luxury of appreciating their environment.
More practically, until recently,
there was enough space and resources for everyone to use as freely as
they wished. But, nowadays, there is more pressure on these resources,
from increased population and from the increased commercialization of
life in Tanzania. A change of lifestyle is needed so that people can live
more in harmony with their surroundings, but people need to seek ways
of making this change.
FORS is now engaged in providing environmental education for local people in an attempt to slow the destruction of the park environment and its surroundings. In 1999, environmental education program was started in five primary schools. It has now since expanded greatly so as to include nine primary schools in the Idodi Division, which is located along the park boundary.
The program consists of basic environmental education
in issues which are directly relevant to Idodi and Ruaha National Park.
However, in order for any environmental education program to be sustainable,
it must fit within the national curriculum for Tanzanian primary schools.
Therefore, prior to starting the program, FORS staff went through the
national curriculum and picked out the relevant environmental topics from
all classes: water, weather, wildlife, and fire/forests/soil. Then we
created active and engaging lesson plans that use participatory learning
methods. Thus, FORS is not adding more work to the teachers but rather
their work is made easier by the lesson plans and materials provided.
More information on:
