Environmental attitude is directly linked with the level of knowledge regarding environmental issues possessed by an individual, and behaviour is if he/ she modify his/ her daily life activities in view of the knowledge attained. The research work aimed to assess the level of environmental awareness and the existing environmental friendly activities among the students of High Schools. The population for the study was the students of schools in Delhi covering IX and X class. Literature reveals that most of the researchers have used questionnaires as a tool to collect data on assessing environment education levels. This study is primarily based on field survey, wherein students responded to predefined questionnaire covering environment aspects. The survey was conducted during May 2019. A total of 160 students were randomly selected and students responded voluntarily (Fig 1). Questionnaire was compiled to assess student’s environmental behaviour, attitude, information sources and demographic information. To assess the environment attitude the questionnaire was made on 5 point likert scale which ranged from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). Remaining questions were given the option of yes or no. The responses were then computed in excel format. Further since environmental information is very crucial in helping young people acquire knowledge about their environment, students were also asked about the main source of information about environmental issues and given options: Television/ School/Newspaper/Magazines/Radio/Family and Others. Information acquired through the different or various sources will go a long way in raising their awareness and helping them change their negative attitude or behaviour to be positive.

Of the total 160 students, 54% were female students and 46 % male (Table 1). Average age of the respondents was 16 years and they belonged from the urban areas of Delhi. It was found that 45 % of the students strongly agreed that EE be taught as a separate subject whereas 17% were neutral. The same set believed that environment education should be a mandatory subject, however they also strongly agreed that studying EE will bring additional load to the curricula. But they were ready to learn about the environment, through the environment and for the environment. Further 60% of them indicated that Government of India should impose high penalty fine that disobey environment rules. Data has been tabulated in Table 2. During the survey, it was also noticed that the students were more sensitive to environmental problems in their own living areas that those in other areas.

Change in behaviour for positive environmental actions can’t be achieved overnight nor it can be a onetime exercise, it is a constant process. To assess the behaviour of the students the descriptive questions were asked: (1) If you see someone throwing/burning garbage on road, open areas etc. will you dare to stop that man, (2) If you see garbage on road, open areas etc. will you pick up the garbage and throw it in dustbin, (3) Will you pay/donate to clean up the environment, (4) Will you participate in awareness programme for environment conservation, (5) When you go to a national park, zoo, tiger reserves, do you carry waste bag, (6) Will you promote carpooling, (7) Will you opt for public transport, (8) Do you use CNG cars and (9) Do you carry jute/cloth bags while shopping. 98% replied with YES option for the questions. They were aware of ill health effects of plastics, air pollution, water pollution and public sanitation. It is also inferred from the table 3 that 66.8 % highlighted that the effective method to create environment awareness is through social media whereas the main source of environment information was received through school (60.6%) table 4.

Time has come where the phrase ‘Only the rich people can afford the luxury of clean environment’ is changing. The rich and developed countries too are facing environment problem. For example in Delhi, the rich section is also trapped in the same gas chamber which is filled with air pollution. It all depends on the coming generation how they build their environmental consciousness. It is very important that environment education is given utmost priority and importance as only educated people educate others.

But it is also a fact that only once people have reasonable standard of living they can afford to think about the environment. It was interesting to note that despite these students were having high environmental attitude as well as behaviour but only 42.5% wanted to pursue their career in the Environment field, table 5. The reason may be attributed to the fact that there is lack of awareness on the environment jobs, however this aspect needs to be studied in detail.

Students have always played an active role in the activities leading to the development of environmental awareness. It is very important and essential that these children of today who will hold the baton of tomorrow should be environmentally conscious. In this study, it has been observed that students highly support the environmental attitude and it was also found that the students equally showed environmental responsible behaviour like carpooling, using cloth bags while shopping, segregating waste etc. Most importantly they are willing to learn more about environment, nature ecology subjects by attending conferences, seminars, workshops about environmental education.

The students have a fair knowledge on environmental issues which can be attributed to the various ongoing programmes like Ecoclub programme of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change which is an annual programme under which students take part in various environment related activities. Various important environment days like World Environment Day, Earth Day, Wetland day, Forest day etc are celebrated in school wherein students take part in debates, essays, poster / drawing competitions which enable them to think/discuss these days and related themes. Thinking process on the emerging environmental problems is developed in these students, although the knowledge needs to be build upon further. Educational value of sources like TV, newspapers, radio needs to be maximised so that it could be used as powerful tool to change behaviour.

The study highlighted that many young minds adapted an environmentally friendly attitude and the green attitude is clearly visible in their actions. Further there is a need to incentivise and bring motivation to these students who wants to pursue career in environment conservation field just like NCC/NSS cadets gets reservation quota in jobs, similarly some weightage should be given to those who adopt environmental courses. These children have developed responsible thinking that we have to live in harmony with nature and don’t want to become tomorrow’s polluters.