Communication & Education:

Communication

SPCS implementation will require the participation of people from all walks of life. To include as many people as possible in strategy development and execution, communication becomes extremely important.

Building awareness of environmental issues and initiating a change in thinking and behavior are both needed.

NWFP is an ethnically diverse, religious society where traditional values, customs and culture playa fundamental part in peoples' lives. It is a society where some traditional tools for communications have been playing an important role in the lives of the people. These include for men the hujra, a daily meeting of the male members of a community; and the jirga a gathering of elders of the community empowered to take collective decisions. For women, it includes the godar, where water is drawn for the family and the tan door, the community oven for the daily baking of bread.

Of the formal media, radio is the most powerful, reaching almost the entire population. Television is rapidly making inroads, but widespread poverty means that it is still limited to the middle class and the rich. Its reach is further curtailed by the fact that TV signals extend to half of the province's population. The third most important medium is the cinema, visited by the young, particularly on the weekend when many come to the city to see a movie. Theatre in the province is still in its infancy, partly because of a lack of sup- port while singing and music have the potential to become powerful mediums of communication. The print media is limited to the educated with the total circulation of English, Urdu and Pushto newspapers and magazines under 100,000 in the province.

All the above options have been identified in detail in the SPCS Communications Strategy. The Strategy spells out the tools that would be needed for its implementation through a communications plan targeted at key audiences.

To this end, the provincial line departments will be offered regular training and orientation courses to harness their support.

Parliamentarians will be contacted and briefed on the SPCS, and will be persuaded to form a House Committee on Environment in the provincial assembly. This will be sup- ported by campaigning through the press for a cleaner environment.

Workshops and meetings with NGO support organizations, and large and mid-level NGOs will be organized to motivate them to support the implementation of the SPCS. The capacity of partner NGOs for communication will be improved and an information package on the subject will be developed and distributed among them.

Religious leaders will be convinced to include environment in the curricula of religious madrassas (schools). A core group of ulema will be sensitized to the environment and its issues so that they can communicate with and train others. A special package consisting of the verses of the Holy Quran and the sayings of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) emphasizing environmental topics will be developed and widely circulated.

The media, electronic and print, will be pro- vided with a certain amount of skills training and continuous flow of information on the environment through the Environmental Management Information Centre to be established in Peshawar. The creation and operation of a Frontier Forum for Environmental Journalists will be supported. A group of puppeteers, theatre artists and local singers will be trained and supported to write and present shows and also to impart training to others.

Deputy Commissioners, with the support of NGOs, will encourage Maliks and Khans to hold huira meetings and discuss environmental issues. NGOs and community-based organizations will be sensitized and encouraged to work for the environment and to involve people in the campaign. These efforts will be supplemented by the formal and non- formal media and the ulema.

An environment cell will be established in the local Chamber of Commerce and Industries to provide information on environment-friendly technologies, the National Environmental Quality Standards and pertinent legislation. A core of industrialists will be convinced that environment-friendly technologies can lead, in the long-term, to cost reductions so that they can convey the message to others.

Concerned federal government departments and donor agencies will be given regular briefings on the SPCS plan of action.

The local armed forces leadership will be approached and requested to take part in environmental initiatives that would benefit from the organization, personnel and facilities of the armed forces.

Education

A fully developed environmental education strategy for SPCS has not been completed at this point. In initial meetings with SPCS staff, the Education Department identified two preliminary mechanisms that are necessary for the development of a strategy: a focal point for improved environmental education, based in the Education Secretariat, to work in close association with the SPCS Unit; and a list of educational tools to use as a basis for further deliberations and development of a full strategy.

In response to the Department's request, this portion of the SPCS has been developed to stimulate creative thinking to assist in the development of a full strategy and detailed action plan.

Environmental education should not become a separate programme or project in schools but should be integrated into the already established institutional infrastructure and on-going programmes and projects of the Education Department.

Teacher training courses must provide teachers with the opportunities to become experienced in addressing environmental issues. Teachers have to be fully equipped with effective methods for introducing environmental education in appropriate subject areas. But teachers - however well-equipped and motivated - can bring about change only if their supervisors support them. The same logic will apply at all levels of education. The appropriate Directorates and hierarchical levels will need to be well informed about and oriented to the needs of and for environmental education.

The present infrastructure of the Education Department can easily lend itself to the above initiatives in human resource development. The Bureau of Curriculum Development and Education Extension Services is responsible for curriculum development, the in-service training of teachers, pre-service training and the refinement and distribution of learning materials, teachers' guides and kits. Environment should be introduced into this programme.

Although the present curriculum and text-books, if used creatively, could allow the introduction of environmental education, further revision is highly desirable. An organization with expertise in environmental education could be invited to take part in the planning and review stages of textbook development or could be invited to write the books. In the long-term, the Text Book Board would need to build in-house expertise in environmental education.

The end result should be that each school has teachers committed and skilled in using environmental education in their teaching wherever appropriate, and who are supported by like-minded leaders. Learning Coordinators, them-selves committed and trained, will support the heads in creating 'green' school development plans. These would include not only classroom teaching but also school rituals and extra-curricular activities. The physical environment and school surroundings practices, such as the use of paper, water, electricity and waste disposal, will be considered. Links with the community and any environmental projects in the immediate vicinity will also take place.
At every stage of education, students need to deepen their understanding of environmental issues. Therefore, the same basic infusion approach should be used in colleges and universities.

Similarly, decision makers in different sectors have an impact on the environment. There is a need to proactively seek opportunities for educating selected key groups. The National Institute of Public Administration, the Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul, the Pakistan Institute of Management, and the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development have been identified as key institutions.

Basic education and literacy programmes could be powerful channels for making people more conscious of their natural resources and deepening their understanding of the issues involved. In all rural areas people are closely and visibly affected by the natural environment and also have direct impact on it. It is essential that basic education and literacy programmes receive support to 'green' their materials through the inclusion of environmental themes that are specific to their audiences and locations. Developers and deliverers of such programmes need related training.

Implementation must go hand in hand with further strategy development. Thus a focal point for environmental education has been recruited to work within the Education Department. A Round Table will be constituted with representatives from all levels of the Government education sector and from civil society, parents, private education employees, and NGOs involved with education and rural development to Support implementation.

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