Implementation of geography environmental education in solving environmemtal problems in Meru District, Tanzania

This study was conducted to assess the implementation of geography environmental education components in solving environmental problems in Meru district. The specific objectives were to: explore the main curriculum package in the geography subject that could be practically be implemented in local communities; examine strategies used to teach environmental education and promote environmental awareness, examine the views of teachers, students and local community on the relevance of environmental education components in geography and its application in the local context; and examine the implementation of emerging environmental education initiatives around the school and community in secondary schools. The study employed a qualitative research in which case study design was used to guide the study. The target population for the study was composed of stakeholder’s front four schools in Meru district and the sample was four teachers, 40 students and eight parents to make the sample size of 52 participants. Data were collected through interviews, observation and documentary reviews and analyzed qualitatively using content analysis. The overall assessment of the main findings of this study show that there was a greater emphasis towards environmental education and was regarded as one of the most important components and thus accorded high priority on its role towards environmental conservation in an effort to achieve sustainable development in Meru district in particular. While it was obviously true that such a situation was considered as an important component in the curriculum for imparting environmental education in Tanzania, practical experience on the ground revealed a different picture as it was shown to be a critical challenge in terms of its realization of goals. With this situation happening in the study area, this study recommends among other things that government should design appropriate strategies and ensure students are effectively and independently taught EE as a separate subject in the curriculum.