Tripura initiates environment motivation prog for school students

Agartala, Dec 4 (UNI) The Tripura government, in collaboration with the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), has initiated a move to motivate school students in managing solid waste and making the state clean and green.

As part of the programme, the TBSE and SCERT were asked to review the curriculum of environment science and infuse more information regarding waste management and its disposal systems, especially in urban localities.

Talking to UNI here today, TBSE president Prof Subrata Sengupta said the concepts of waste management had already been incorporated substantially in the school curriculum prepared by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the expert committee would review the entire syllabus before starting the next session.

According to the instructions of the Supreme Court, environment science had been introduced as a separate subject from Class VI-XII in 2001 while the ''text book greening programme'' (infusion of environmental concepts) was carried out in the curriculum at the primary level, Prof Sengupta said.

The Class XII textbooks dealt with environmental pollution and urban waste disposal issues while the books for Classes VI-XI incorporated chapters on the subjects related to management of garbage and conservation of natural resources, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, State Health Minister Tapan Chakraborty said owing to alarming health hazards and increase in infectious diseases, the Tripura government had initiated a panel action against non-compliance of the instructions of the Bio-Medical Waste Management (BMWM) by the healthcare establishments in state.

Besides solid, liquid and bio-medical waste, the state government made it mandatory to ensure disinfection of medicinal wastes, Mr Chakraborty said, adding that with the recommendations of five different zonal workshops, the health department incorporated the hospital waste management issue in nursing refresher courses.

''Tripura is the only state in the North East which gives emphasis to both bio-medical and solid waste management despite financial constraints,'' Mr Chakraborty said.

He, however, said the waste generated by the healthcare establishments and research institutions had emerged as a crucial issue in the health and environmental concerns for the state.

Besides severe health hazards, improper segregation and dumping of bio-medical waste was a major cause of air and water contamination.

While constituting separate cells in the concerned sectors, the state government had involved the state Pollution Control Board, urban bodies, medical and paramedical associations, common facility operators, manufacturers, professionals, educationists and NGOs in the projects.

''Besides bio-medical waste, we are taking initiatives to make the provision for treatment and disposal of the animal waste mandatory, as meat consumption in the NE is high and huge animal tissues are disposed,'' state Urban Development Minister Badal Choudhury said.

UNI