Integrating National Education Policy 2020 and Citizen Science: Empowering Young Environmental Stewards for Pro-environmental behavior

Introduction

With a mere 2% of Earth’s total landmass, India has 8% of world’s biodiversity and sensitive ecosystems like Himalayas, Coral reefs, Sundarbans mangroves, Thar Desert, Western Ghats (1). Environment education is a process of creation of environment literacy and development of respect towards nature so that informed and responsible decisions are made (2). The pillars of environmental education are sustainable development, emphasis on real world problem, practical activities, interdisciplinary approach. Practical implication can be created by properly understanding environmental education and its role in shaping attitudes for environmental protection especially by young environmental stewards. ‘Think globally, Act locally’- the slogan related to environmental education has been famous since three decades. With only five years left to completion of target achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, there must be new ways to commensurate actions for solving global problems. It is high times to translate knowledge into practice. Now-a- days students are merely information careers and its high time to turn them into something more so that they act too.

The National Education Policy 2020 is a paradigm shift in Indian education system as it focuses on many aspects that can provide fertile ground for practical approach towards environmental education. It talks about fostering unique capabilities in each student by encouraging logical decision making, creativity, critical thinking, ethics, human and constitutional values like spirit of service, scientific temper, respect for others and empathy. The NEP 2020 focuses on the fact that during these times of Triple Planetary Crisis its very important for children not only to learn but most importantly how to learn. Ancient Indian education system also focused on eternal development and knowledge acquisition not only for school or job but for complete realization and liberation of self (NEP 2020).

Citizen science engages public in scientific research often in collaboration with professional scientists by collecting, analyzing data, reporting finding to contribute to scientific research and policy making (3,4). The student-scientist partnership in a citizen science project is unique as it offers a platform for scientist to work with students, teachers and other community members (5) and students also get real time exposure of the prevailing environmental conditions of their area. In United States there has been a shift in approach to promote interest and understanding of science, there teachers are engaging students in hands-on activities giving them a real-world science away from memorization of facts and rote learning system (6). India could also follow the same model of using citizen science as a tool for real environmental education to youth which also aligns with NEP 20202 principles.

While there are studies on both the concept NEP 2020 and citizen science but there is a significant gap in research that analyze the combined potential to cultivate environmental stewardship in Indian context. So, the authors are interested in knowing how can citizen science be incorporated into the curriculum of Indian schools involving NEP 2020 framework? And what are the key pedagogical benefits to students and overall environmental benefits?

Merging NEP 2020 and citizen science for environmental education

Piaget posits that in traditional method of learning it is not realistic to expect mutual communication between teacher and student. He further argues that what the teacher is saying may not be same as what is heard and perceived by students (6). According to Piaget there are four principles of active learning:

1. a) Students learn best when they interact with concrete materials and are active.
2. b) Learning should be individualized and student-centric.
3. c) There must co-operative work and social interaction in the classroom.
4. d) Students must construct their knowledge to make it meaningful.

Thus, it can be concluded that learning is constructive knowledge and is effective with concrete materials and hands-on activities.  The above all four principles aligns with tenets of NEP 2020 like- experiential learning; recognizing, identifying and fostering unique capability of each student; ethics; life skills- communication, teamwork, cooperation, and resilience. There is a paradigm educational shift in NEP 2020 in its recommendation such as emphasis on critical thinking development, moving away from rote learning system.

While NEP 2020 has great visions for integrating environmental education but there are some weaknesses causing inconsistent and ineffective implementation in a diverse country like India. Following are some challenges and shortcomings:

1. Lack of dedicated subject for environmental education- The infusion approach leads to environmental topics being treated as secondary topic in other subjects.
2. Teacher training- Complex environmental subjects like climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and sustainable development has been put into lessons. It is difficult for teachers with lack of robust and standardized training to teach students these subjects effectively. This can again lead to rote learning approach where students are only passive information carrier rather than fostering critical thinking and problem-solving attitude development.
3. Centralized and local issues- The terms like climate change and biodiversity loss are too generic. Environmental issues are highly context specific for example a student residing at desert area of Rajasthan, India must be facing water scarcity and a student living in New Delhi India must be familiar with pollution. A one size fits all curriculum fails to address immediate and local environmental problems that students are familiar with hence making lesson feel irrelevant for them.
4. Theoretical knowledge over Experiential learning- While NEP 2020 advocates experiential learning through activities, the practical implementation is challenging due to lack of infrastructure, funding, collaborations between scientific community and schools and clear roadmap for fieldwork and community engagement. This often leads to a gap between knowing facts about current environmental issues and feeling empowered to take action.

Citizen Science as a solution for above limitations

Several studies have reported benefits of citizen science in formal and informal educational settings. A study involving Australian undergraduate science students in a citizen science project related to phenology increased their environmental knowledge. The inquiry-based learning increased retention capacity of students by evoking deep thinking in them (7). If a child has to recognize that putting hands in hot water can cause him burn, he needs to try it himself. This can best demonstrate him burn, hotness and what is dangerous. This is called learning from experience. The concept of citizen science gives students and scientists an opportunity to collaborate and learn from experience. The thinking capability is developed when people encounter difficulties in life. This learning by doing is important aspect of Dewey’s educational theory (8). Moreover, students can have real time experience, hands-on learning, knowledge about local environmental condition and issues related with them. For Indian schools involving students in citizen science projects is again a big task. But involvement of multiple stakeholders like school, scientists, policymakers and local government can help in smooth running of any project for multiple benefits to science, society and environment.

References:

1) Thukral, S., Thambi, R., Bhati, R., Gupta, A., & Durve, N. C. (2025). A Review-Biodiversity Conservation Efforts in India and Connection to Climate Change. Ecology, Environment & Conservation (0971765X), 31.

2) Vladova, I. (2023). Towards a more sustainable future: The importance of environmental education in developing attitudes towards environmental protection. In SHS web of conferences (Vol. 176, p. 01009). EDP Sciences.

3) https://www.oecd.org/en/blogs/2025/04/what-is-citizen-science-and-why-should-policymakers-care.html

4) https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/citizen-science-article/

5) Krasny, M. E., & Bonney, R. (2005). Environmental education through citizen science and participatory action research. Environmental education and advocacy: Changing perspectives of ecology and education, 292-319.

6) Pardjono, P. (2016). Active learning: The Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, and constructivist theory perspectives. Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan Universitas Negeri Malang, 9(3), 105376.

7) Mitchell, N., Triska, M., Liberatore, A., Ashcroft, L., Weatherill, R., & Longnecker, N. (2017). Benefits and challenges of incorporating citizen science into university education. PLoS One, 12(11), e0186285.

8) Li, Y. (2023). Judging John Dewey’s Views on Education Especially on Hands-on Learning, Student-Centred Learning Approach, and Learning by Doing. Curriculum and Teaching Methodology, 6(22), 58-62.