The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Environmental awareness grips Loyola students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 08, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Environmental awareness grips Loyola students

By M. Dinesh Varma

CHENNAI, APRIL 7. From cutting an album in celebration of Mother Earth to proposing a slew of measures for a cleaner Cooum, Loyola College students have hit a new learning curve in their pursuit of environmental sciences.

Ever since environmental study became part of their curriculum last year on the directives of the Supreme Court on December 18, 2003, second year degree students are connecting like never before to issues that range from global warming and ozone layer to Chennai's groundwater depletion and environmental degradation at Pallikaranai.

Apart from 45 lecture hours, fourth semester students are required to formulate projects that involve field visits. Teachers say the students' interest and involvement in environmental matters have increased significantly.

"Students were encouraged to approach their projects in an interdisciplinary manner," said I. Jeyadoss, English lecturer, whose students staged puppet shows and skits on environmental themes and participated in night-long turtle walks at Neelankarai to celebrate the cause of the endangered Olive Ridley.

As part of their study, students inspected the 96-acre college campus for medicinal plants and compiled an inventory of 170 herbs or scouted to identify earthworm species best suited for vermin composting. Others analysed the problems besieging the Cooum and peppered their project report with references to the conservation of the Thames. While Visual Communication students designed posters and made photo-features and documentaries on pollution, their counterparts in Commerce composed a four-song album on the environment.

"We gave them the freedom to chose the topics and were surprised at the innovative ideas they generated," said Josephine Sangitha, Faculty, Commerce.

A group met the Environment department Director, S. Balaji to assess the status of the Cooum. Another sifted huge amounts of meteorological data to propose a suitable rainwater harvesting model for the college.

Balasubramaniam, lecturer in Visual Communication, finds that students have become keen on developmental issues.

"From the outset, we were determined not to make these projects a matter of mere routine," said S. Vincent, senior lecturer, Unit of Environmental Health and Biotechnology/ Zoology Department. Everyone on the campus from the Principal, Fr. Albert Muthumalai, to students, shares this serious approach.

The college has set apart Rs. 5 lakhs from a Rs. 1-crore UGC grant for an environmental study laboratory.

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