Department of Environmental Science

About the Department

The genesis of current altered and degraded biosphere can be easily traced back to the lifestyles and developmental processes during industrial era, first followed in the North, then moving to the 3rd world countries including India. As a result, several challenges appeared in the face of mankind including poverty, political instability, population explosion, undernourishment, high consumerism of natural resources etc. which lead to the global environmental problems such as pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity to name a few. Unfortunately, many of the above said effects were found to be long term and irreversible with consequences for future generations. To address such issues, the world first got together to ensure preservation and enhancement of the human environment in Stockholm in 1972. It was concluded that mankind needed to be sensitized about the environment to appreciate the challenges and to find solutions. Consequently, Environmental Science has developed as an academic discipline and the need to create research base and technical manpower in the areas of Environmental Science has been felt world over.

India also did not lag behind. The Honorable Supreme Court, in response to a writ petition introduced formal environment education into school curricula in different subjects. In 1991, the UGC created a compulsory Core Module Undergraduate Course on Environmental Studies to be implemented in all subjects at the undergraduate level which is now referred to as ‘Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course (AECC)’. In Jammu and Kashmir, Environmental studies was introduced as a subject in all the universities and affiliated colleges from 2003.

At Government Degree College Pampore, the Department of Environmental Science was established since the inception of the College i.e., 2012. Since then the Department has been striving for raising awareness about important environmental issues, sensitizing students and masses alike about the importance of the environment and its conservation through classroom teaching, field trips, door to door awareness programmes etc.

Vision

The vision of Environmental Science Department is to:

  • To provide quality education and training in Environmental Sciences.
  • To foster environmental awareness and promote the principles and practices of sustainable development.
  • To prepare candidates for industry and academia for sustainable solutions to environmental problems and implementation of environmental policies through quality teaching and diverse learning experiences imparted to undergraduate students.

Mission

Our mission is to:

  • To create and disseminate fundamental knowledge about Environment.
  • To train students and educate the broader public in Environmental Sciences.
  • Enhance the ability of students to apply this knowledge and expertise to find solutions to environmental issue starting from the local level.
  • Provide students with the scope to develop a knowledge base covering all attributes of the environment and enable them to attain scientific/technological capabilities.
  • To enable students to find answers to the fundamental questions before the society with regards to human action and environmental effects with due diligence.
  • To integrate, create, and utilize all kinds of knowledge to solve societal problems, such as the sustainable use of energy and natural resources such as water, soil, forests etc.
  • To enable students for identification and mitigation of risks posed by the consequences of human activities on the environment.

Courses Taught

a. Ability Enhancement Compulsory Course in Environmental Studies(04 Credit Course)

Environmental Studies being an interdisciplinary subject teaches the basics of all environmental sectors, their importance, relevance, threats faced and subsequent solutions. Therefore, explicit learning outcomes against the courses would provide a direction to the students and teachers to focus effectively on the subject.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Environmental Studies being a multidisciplinary subject prepares the students for diverse careers. This provides them with the opportunity of having the best understanding and addressing complex environmental issues from a problem-oriented, multidimensional perspective. The students after passing out with Environmental studies are expected to posses the following

Graduate Attributes (GA)

  1. Understand the concepts and methods from ecological and physical sciences and their application in environmental problem solving.
  2. Reflect critically about their roles and identities as citizens, consumers and environmental actors in a complex, interconnected world.
  3. Correlate the ethical, cross-cultural, and historical context of environmental issues and the links between human and natural systems.
  4. Appreciate and understand that they are integral stakeholders in the environmental management at both regional and national levels irrespective of their future jobs or working.
  5. Realize the requirement of framing environmental policy guidelines.
  6. Understand the large scale nature of environmental problems and ways of addressing them, including interactions across local to global scales.
  7. Analyze and understand interactions between social and environmental processes.

b. Skill Enhancement Course in Disaster Management (04 CREDIT COURSE)

The purpose of the skill enhancement course in disaster management is to build capacities that will reduce disaster risks and contribute to better and more targeted public health based relief following disasters through knowledge and experience. The main objectives of this skill course are:

  1. To increase the knowledge and understanding of the disaster phenomenon, its different types, contextual aspects, impacts and public health consequences.
  2. To increase the knowledge and understanding of skills and abilities for implementing the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategy.
  3. To ensure skills and abilities to analyze potential effects of disasters and of the strategies and
    methods to deliver public health response to prevent these effects.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The students are expected to have acquired the following attributes once the skill course is
done:

  • Ability to integrate knowledge and analyze, evaluate and manage the different public health aspects of disasters at a local and global levels.
  • Capability to describe, analyze and evaluate the environmental, socio-cultural, economic and organizational aspects affecting vulnerabilities and capacities to face disasters.
  • Capacity to work both in a theoretical and practical manner during the processes of disaster management (disaster risk reduction, response, and recovery) and relate their interconnections, particularly with respect to Public Health.
  • Ability to collect , assess, and disseminate information related to risks, relief needs and lessons learned from earlier disasters in order to formulate strategies for mitigation in future scenarios.

Teaching-Learning Methods

For imparting education and understanding of the subjects, the Department of Environmental Sciences, has envisaged imparting holistic knowledge and understanding of the various components of Environmental Science and inter-linkages of all the aspects of local, regional, and global environment. This mode of learning process is expected to develop both academic and professional skills necessary for professionals dealing with wide array of environmental issues in varied sectors. Ability to think critically and subsequent decision making, empowered with skill, would be the key emphasis of teaching-learning for this programme.  The following approaches to teaching are taken up at the department:

  1. Lectures
  2. Seminars
  3. Tutorials
  4. Field-based study
  5. Project-based learning
  6. Audio visual techniques
  7. Power point presentations
  8. Group discussions

Assessment Methods

In order to ensure that the assessment tools are satisfactorily rendering a clear and unambiguous picture about the attainment level of course outcomes for each and every student, the Department maintains an active internal assessment methodology. As the students have to appear for end semester examinations conducted by the Kashmir University, a lucid and student friendly internal assessment system has been set up. This includes quizzes, class presentations, individual and group assignments and viva –voce.

Student Enrolment in different Semesters

S.NO

BATCH

SEMESTER

COURSE

SUBJECT

TOTAL NO OF STUDENTS ENROLLED

01

2020

1st

AECC

Environmental Science

236

02

2019

2nd

AECC

Environmental Science

317

03

2018

4th

SKILL COURSE

Disaster Management

29

 

Activity Calendar

S.NO.

MONTH

DATE

EVENT

1.

FEBRUARY

2nd Feb

World Wetland Day

2.

MARCH

21st March

World Forestry Day

3.

APRIL

22nd April

Earth Day

4.

MAY

22nd May

World Biodiversity Day

5.

JUNE

5th June

World Environment Day

6.

JULY

3rd July

World Anti-plastic Day

7.

SEPTEMBER

16th September

World Ozone Day

8.

OCTOBER

1-7 October

World Wildlife Week

9

DECEMBER

5th December

World Soil Day

 

Events organised by the department

The Department has been actively involved in organizing several programmes ranging from quizzes, seminars, painting and slogan writing competitions, cleanliness drives as part of its mission to take the knowledge to the grass root level as well as to make students sensitive to their surroundings. Following is a glimpse of several activities carried out in recent years:

  1. Inter-college Online Painting Competition on the theme “COVID-19 as a Public Health Threat” (06-08-2020) on eve of International Youth Day.
  2. Inter-college Online Drawing Competition on the theme: “Beat the Plastic Pollution- If you can’t reuse it, Refuse it” (09-07-2020) on eve of World Plastic Bag Free Day.
  3. Inter-college Online Quiz Competition on “World Plastic Bag Free Day” on 3rd July 2020.
  4. Deputation of students for the programme titled “First Aid Training for Health Volunteers” organized by DDMA, Pulwama on 26-06-2020.
  5. Online World Environment Week Celebrations on the theme “BIODIVERSITY “(02 to 05th June- 2020)
  6. 2nd June: Slogan Writing Competition
  7. 3rd June: Essay Competition
  8. 4th June: Drawing Competition
  9. Online POSTER Competition on the theme “Covid-19 and its Impact on Environment” on 27-05-2020.
  10. World Environment Week Celebrations on the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution” (03 to 05 JUNE- 2018)
    1. 3rd June : Quiz Competition
    2. 4th June: Painting Competition
    3. 5th June: Essay Writing Competition

Faculty Details

S.NO

NAME

DESIGNATION

QUALIFICATION

EMAIL ID

CONTACT NO

01.

Dr. Irfan Khursheed Shah

Assistant Professor (HOD)

Ph. D, M.Sc