Environmental education in senior secondary schools in the Sunyani municipality

Abstract

Concerns have been raised in recent times concerning the negative attitude of Ghanaians towards the environment. In spite of efforts being made to change behaviour, very little seems to have been achieved. All over the world, the most powerful tool, which is used to surmount environmental problems is Environmental Education (EE). EE has been made part of the Senior Secondary School curriculum in Ghana. One would wonder the benefits of EE if environmental problems keep rising day by day. The research therefore, sought to examine the extent to which the content of Environmental Education in the Senior Secondary School syllabus is able to impart knowledge on environmental issues. To obtain useful data to help in achieving the objectives of the research, a Criterion Reference Test was conducted for final year students of four Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in the Sunyani Municipality. Also a questionnaire was designed to elicit the views of teachers in the said schools on the topic. The I-leads of the various schools used in the study were also interviewed. The study revealed interesting results notable among which is the fact that, students who come out of SSS on the whole cannot be said to be knowledgeable in environmental issues. Among the reasons accounting for this were that, teachers were not using hands-on approaches in teaching EE. Again, the content of EE in the Social Studies Syllabus was also seen to be too small. To solve these problems that hinder the teaching and learning of EE, a number of recommendations have been made which, when implemented to the letter, would change the face of EE in our Senior Secondary Schools