Planting trees and organising awareness campaigns are valuable, but they cannot replace environmental literacy. As climate change increasingly shapes everyday life, India’s schools must teach students how environmental systems, public policy and sustainability are interconnected.

Every year, schools across India mark World Environment Day with the same rituals. Children plant saplings, make posters, join cleanliness drives, and pledge to “save the environment.” A photograph is taken, a few speeches are made, and the saplings are watered for a week or two before the event winds down and environmental education slips back to the margins of the curriculum. There is nothing wrong with planting trees. The concern is what happens when tree-planting, poster-making and occasional awareness drives become the whole of environmental education: children end up with a dangerously thin understanding of the environmental forces that already govern their lives.

India’s environmental problems are no longer confined to the classroom or the textbook. Heatwaves have thrown school timetables out of kilter. Air pollution affects children’s health and their ability to concentrate. Floods and cyclones disrupt attendance and damage school infrastructure. Water shortages are a recurring reality in many parts of the country, and waste management, plastic pollution, groundwater depletion and biodiversity loss are becoming questions of everyday survival rather than abstract concerns. Yet much of environmental education still treats the environment as something outside the classroom, and environmental protection as an occasional act of cleaning or conservation. The problem isn’t that Indian children don’t know about trees. It’s that they are rarely taught why environmental crises happen, who pays the price for them, and what other choices communities could make.

Why Environmental Literacy Matters

India has a long history of institutional efforts on environmental education. Supreme Court rulings in the 1990s pushed environmental education into schools, and the National Curriculum Framework, along with subsequent policy measures, tried to weave environmental topics into the curriculum. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places considerable emphasis on environmental awareness, sustainable development and responsible citizenship. On paper, the direction looks promising. In the classroom, that intent rarely survives translation.

A student may be told to conserve electricity, but is anyone explaining where India’s electricity comes from, why coal still dominates the grid, how renewable energy is expanding, and what trade-offs come with each alternative?

A child might learn that forests matter for ecological balance, but is anyone teaching them why the trees are being cut, who owns the forest land, what happens to the communities living in or around forests, how infrastructure projects reshape ecosystems, or how climate change itself is accelerating deforestation? A student may be told to conserve electricity, but is anyone explaining where India’s electricity comes from, why coal still dominates the grid, how renewable energy is expanding, and what trade-offs come with each alternative? A pupil may be advised not to waste water, but do they understand groundwater depletion, unequal access to water, the weaknesses in urban infrastructure, or the politics of sharing rivers between states?

These are fundamentally different levels of learning. The first produces awareness. The second produces environmental literacy. India needs far more of the latter.

The Environment Is Not Only a Question of Individual Behaviour

One of the deepest weaknesses of conventional environmental education is its tendency to place almost the entire burden on the individual: turn off the lights, carry a cloth bag, don’t litter, plant a tree, use less water. These are worthwhile habits. But taken alone, they carry a quiet suggestion — that environmental destruction is essentially a matter of personal carelessness. Climate change, pollution and ecological collapse are not happening because people forget to switch off a fan or reuse a plastic bag.

They are the product of energy systems, industrial production, urban design, transport networks, agricultural practices, consumption patterns and public policy choices. When environmental education stops at individual behaviour, students may grow into conscientious consumers while remaining unaware of the institutional and political processes that actually shape environmental outcomes. They should also be taught to ask who is responsible for emissions, and why a project is sited where it is. That shift — from moral instruction to civic awareness — is the one Indian environmental education still largely has not made.

Climate Change Is Already in the Classroom

The strongest argument for rethinking environmental education is that climate change is no longer a distant subject for Indian schoolchildren — it is already shaping their school experience. Extreme heat makes classrooms uncomfortable and undermines concentration. Floods and cyclones damage school infrastructure and disrupt attendance. Air pollution curtails outdoor activity. Water scarcity affects sanitation facilities, with a disproportionate impact on adolescent girls.

These effects are not distributed evenly. A private school with air conditioning, backup power and a reliable water supply absorbs climate stress very differently from an under-resourced government school. Climate change, in other words, is not only an environmental issue — it is also a question of educational inequality. A child sitting through a heatwave in a poorly ventilated classroom experiences climate change in fundamentally different terms from a child in a climate-controlled one, yet few environmental education programmes address that disparity directly. They should. Climate literacy needs to teach children that environmental issues are inseparable from class, geography, gender, occupation and access to infrastructure.

From ‘Save the Planet’ to Environmental Justice

Another limitation lies in how environmental issues are framed. Students are told they must “save the planet.” But the planet will endure regardless. The more urgent question is what kind of civilisation humanity will be able to inhabit as environmental pressures mount — and that is where environmental justice comes in.

India’s renewable energy transition makes this complexity visible. Solar and wind power are essential to reducing dependence on fossil fuels, but large-scale projects can also mean land acquisition, damage to agricultural livelihoods, and conflict with local communities. Protecting biodiversity matters, but so do the rights of people living around protected areas. Electric vehicles cut tailpipe emissions, but their batteries depend on mineral mining with its own environmental and social costs. Recycling eases pressure on landfills, but informal waste collectors often work in hazardous, unregulated conditions.

None of this is an argument against environmental action. It is an argument for teaching students how environmental systems actually work, contradictions included. A mature curriculum should embrace that complexity rather than flatten it.

Teachers Need Support, Not Just Demands

None of this is possible if teachers are left to carry the burden alone. Environmental education, where it exists, is often exam-driven, squeezed for time, and layered on top of an already heavy workload. Many teachers have no specialised training in climate science or environmental policy. Improving environmental education is, in large part, a question of improving teacher preparation and giving teachers the tools to connect environmental issues to subjects they already teach: geography can examine groundwater depletion, economics can study the cost of pollution, civics can look at environmental regulation, mathematics can work with climate data, history can trace industrialisation and land-use change, and language classes can practise environmental journalism and writing. Environmental education does not need a separate subject. It needs a different way of teaching the subjects that already exist.

The Classroom as a Site of Inquiry

Some of the most valuable environmental learning may not come from lectures at all. Schools can double as sites of inquiry. Students can take temperature readings in their own classrooms and study local heat patterns, check air quality where they live, map household water use, conduct waste audits, track the loss of local biodiversity, or examine power consumption and the potential for renewables. They can trace where their school’s waste actually goes. These exercises build evidence-based reasoning in a way no poster campaign can, developing skills in observation, questioning and analysis that are essential to understanding environmental issues.

Beyond Symbolic Environmentalism

Finally, what is needed is a cultural shift, not another annual ritual. Environmental education should be more than a photograph of children clutching saplings. A planted tree is visible; the systems that actually determine environmental outcomes — urban design, energy generation, water governance, waste management, industrial regulation, the distribution of climate risk — are not, and children need to understand them regardless.

India is raising a generation that will have to navigate hotter cities, strained water systems, shifting coastlines and difficult development choices. Telling children to plant trees isn’t wrong. It simply isn’t enough. The goal of environmental education should not be young people who appreciate the value of a tree, but citizens who understand how societies shape the environment — and how the environment, in turn, shapes society. That is the real difference between symbolic awareness and meaningful education.

India’s young generation is navigating a changing job market, skills gap, career pressures and global ambitions. What can India do to build a more secure and purposeful future for its youth?

India’s youth are shaping the destiny of the modern nation state, and the country’s demographic dividend is often cited as its greatest economic advantage. Yet in the post-pandemic era, that advantage sits uneasily alongside a labour market being reshaped by technology, and alongside growing anxieties about work-life balance. Degrees and formal qualifications matter less than they once did; skills now decide who gets hired. The conventional career ladder is giving way to entrepreneurship, and local ideas are finding global audiences through a digitally connected world.

India’s Youth Face a Changing Job Market

Even in the age of the internet, young people in India’s remote villages need more than connectivity to compete for jobs. Better English communication, soft skills training and technical know-how could do much to empower farmers and young people in rural areas. The Union government’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana, aimed at upskilling rural youth, is a step in this direction, but the scheme’s reach and impact deserve closer scrutiny than they currently receive.

Reducing unemployment cannot be the government’s job alone. It calls for a collective effort: a social reform movement that goes beyond electoral politics and pushes for constructive dialogue on the concerns of young people. Independent media has a role here too, in pursuing solutions-driven journalism, without fear or favour, that surfaces localised ideas for financial security and wellbeing.

Dignity of Work, Voice in Parliament

A social renaissance built on universal access to education and life-skills training, paired with a national minimum wage across sectors, would restore a basic sense of dignity to every working citizen. A national mission on youth concerns, one that cuts across party lines, is overdue. Greater youth representation in Parliament could combine the experience of older leaders with the energy of a younger population, in service of the Gandhian ideal of Sarvodaya, the upliftment of all through equal access to education, services and mentorship.

Life After the Civil Services Exam

Many young Indians aspire to the civil services, and a whole industry of coaching academies has grown around that aspiration. But only a small fraction of aspirants clear every stage of the examination and enter the service. For the rest, failure need not be an ending. Careers in media, academia and research are open to those willing to look beyond government employment. Aspirants would do well not to pour years into preparation alone; short courses and internships alongside exam preparation build a resume rich in the domains they actually care about, whatever path they eventually take.

Beyond the Rat Race

The pursuit of social prestige, at the expense of everything else, breeds burnout and a routine that feels mechanical rather than meaningful. A professional life worth having offers more than financial security; it offers peace of mind and a sense of contentment. That kind of self-reliance and purpose is possible, but it requires young people to define success on their own terms rather than borrow someone else’s definition of it.

The same is true of attention. Shrinking attention spans, a by-product of life on the smartphone, are a legitimate cause for concern in a hyper-connected era. A weekly or monthly digital holiday, however modest, can restore clarity of thought and make room for the kind of offline interaction that a screen cannot replace.

An Aspirational, Global Generation

India’s youth remain aspirational, drawn to opportunities in Europe, the Gulf and North America, and increasingly to frontiers beyond Earth. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and a volatile global economy have not dimmed that ambition. Policymakers could do more to meet it at home, by building India into a genuine hub for higher education, with international students, faculty and university campuses. That transformation has already begun in pockets. What is missing is a coherent, pan-Indian policy to carry it forward, and with it, India’s aspiration to become a genuine centre of global learning.

A degree is often seen as a gateway to employment, professional licensing, postgraduate education and, increasingly, opportunities abroad. Yet, in practice, employment is not always guaranteed even when students graduate from recognised institutions, reflecting the broader uncertainties of today’s job market. It is within this gap between expectation and outcome that fake universities often take hold, exploiting aspirations by offering quick or easily accessible degrees, even though the value of any qualification ultimately depends on whether the institution awarding it is legally recognised.

The issue has come back into focus after the Ministry of Education informed Parliament that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has identified 32 fake universities operating across India. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on August 5, Minister of State for Education Dr. Sukanta Majumdar said the UGC has asked states and Union Territories to initiate legal action against these institutions and prevent them from misleading students.

Delhi Tops the List of Fake Universities

The UGC’s latest list shows that fake universities remain concentrated in a handful of states. Delhi accounts for 12 of the country’s 32 fake universities, followed by Uttar Pradesh with four. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal have two each, while Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have one each.

Delhi’s position is significant because it is one of India’s largest destinations for higher education. Every year, thousands of students move to the capital to pursue university education. Students who relocate to unfamiliar places may find it difficult to distinguish recognised institutions from those operating illegally.

Kerala also features on the list with two institutions: St. John’s University, Kishanattam, and the International Islamic University of Prophetic Medicine (IIUPM), Kozhikode.

A Growing Higher Education System

India has one of the world’s largest higher education systems, and the National Education Policy 2020 aims to raise the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to 50 per cent by 2035. As access expands and more students move across states in search of better educational opportunities, verifying the legitimacy of institutions has become increasingly important.

Some fake universities exploit this demand by adopting names that resemble recognised institutions, claiming approvals they do not have or promoting courses through websites and social media. Students often discover the problem only when they apply for government jobs, professional registration, postgraduate admissions or universities abroad, where degrees from unrecognised institutions are not accepted.

Who Can Legally Award Degrees?

The UGC says only universities established through a Central Act, State Act or Provincial Act, institutions declared as deemed to be universities under Section 3 of the UGC Act, or institutions empowered by an Act of Parliament can award recognised degrees.

Any institution operating outside this legal framework, even if it uses the word “university” in its name, is not authorised to confer valid degrees.

How the UGC Is Responding

The Ministry told Parliament that the UGC has issued clarification letters, compliance notices, notices seeking explanations and warning notices to institutions identified as fake. It has also published public advisories and written to Chief Secretaries and Education Secretaries of the concerned states and Union Territories, asking them to register FIRs and begin legal proceedings.

The Centre has also requested state governments to identify any additional fake universities operating within their jurisdictions and take action against institutions that falsely claim university status.

What Students Should Do

The UGC has advised students and parents to verify an institution’s recognition before applying for admission. Applicants should check whether the university appears on the UGC’s official list of recognised institutions instead of relying only on advertisements or promotional material.

As more students move across states for higher education and seek opportunities abroad, the authenticity of a degree has become as important as the qualification itself. A few minutes spent verifying an institution on the UGC website can save years of academic, financial and professional loss.