AWARENESS ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AMONG BED STUDENT TEACHERS

Environmental pollution is the undesirable change in physical, chemical and biological characteristics of air, land and water. As a result of over-population, rapid industrializations, and other human activities like agriculture and deforestation etc., earth became loaded with diverse pollutants that were released as by-products. The paper is an attempt to identify the awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers. The investigator adopted the survey method to study the awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers. The study is based on primary data which is collected from 300 BEd student teachers in and around Coimbatore district using simple random sampling technique. The findings reveal that there is a difference in the level of awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers.


Introduction
The environmental imbalance gives rise to various environmental problems. Some of the environmental problems are pollution, soil erosion leading to floods, salt deserts and sea recedes, desertification, landslides, change of river directions, extinction of species, and vulnerable ecosystem in place of more complex and stable ecosystems, depletion of natural resources, waste accumulation, deforestation, thinning of ozone layer and global warming. The environmental problems are visualized in terms of pollution, growth in population, development, industrialization, unplanned urbanization etc. Rapid migration and increase in population in the urban areas has also lead to traffic congestion, water shortages, solid waste, and air, water and noise pollution are common noticeable problems in almost all the urban areas since last few years.

Research Design
The study aimed to identify the awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers. In the present study survey method was used. The investigator adopted the survey method to study awareness of environmental pollution. The study is based on primary data which is collected from 300 BEd students teachers in and around Coimbatore district.

Hypothesis 1:
There is no difference in the level of awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers.  Table 1 exhibits the result of awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers. According to the table totally 27% of the BEd student teachers belong to low level of awareness on environmental pollution, 49% of the BEd student teachers belong to moderate level of awareness on environmental pollution, 24% of the BEd student teachers belong to high level of awareness on environmental pollution. So the hypothesis No: 1 is rejected. Thus it is inferred that there is a difference in the level of awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers.

Hypothesis 2:
There is no significant mean score difference in the awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers between the groups based on medium. The Table 2 shows that mean score difference in awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers between the groups based on medium of instruction. The calculated t-value is statistically significant at 0.05 levels and hence, the hypothesis is rejected. It can be concluded that there is a significant difference in awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers between the groups based on medium. There is no significant mean score difference in the awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers between the groups based on locality. The Table 3 shows that mean score difference in awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers between the groups based on locality. The calculated t-value is statistically significant at 0.05 levels and hence, the hypothesis 3 is rejected. It can be concluded that there is a significant difference in awareness on awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers between the groups based on locality.

Conclusion
The findings reveal that totally 27% of the BEd student teachers belong to low level of awareness on environmental pollution, 49% of the BEd student teachers belong to moderate level of awareness on environmental pollution, 24% of the BEd student teachers belong to high level of awareness on environmental pollution. Thus, it is inferred that there is a difference in the level of awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers. Here locality and medium influences the awareness on environmental pollution among BEd student teachers.