Integrating climate change and sustainability into educational curricula is crucial for fostering a more informed and proactive generation capable of addressing the pressing environmental challenges we face. Here are some key strategies that education systems can implement:

1. Interdisciplinary Approach:
   • Incorporate climate change and sustainability topics across various subjects, such as science, geography, economics, politics, and social studies.
   • This interdisciplinary approach helps students understand the multifaceted and complex nature of these issues.
2. Experiential Learning:
   • Provide hands-on, project-based learning opportunities that allow students to engage directly with environmental issues and solutions.
   • This could include activities like school gardens, renewable energy projects, waste management initiatives, and field trips to local ecosystems.
3. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving:
   • Encourage students to critically analyze and evaluate information related to climate change and sustainability.
   • Develop their problem-solving skills by presenting them with real-world challenges and empowering them to devise innovative solutions.
4. Local and Global Perspectives:
   • Explore the local and global dimensions of climate change and sustainability, highlighting the interconnectedness of environmental issues.
   • Encourage students to understand the diverse impacts and inequities associated with climate change, and how different communities and nations are affected.
5. Civic Engagement and Action:
   • Provide opportunities for students to engage in civic activities, such as advocacy campaigns, community clean-ups, and climate strikes.
   • Empower students to become active citizens who can influence policymakers and community leaders on environmental issues.

Developing a comprehensive framework for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions is a complex and multifaceted challenge, as it requires considering the intricate interactions between student, teacher, and contextual factors. Here is a proposed framework that aims to address this complexity:

1. Clearly Define Intended Outcomes:
   • Start by clearly articulating the specific learning objectives, skills, and competencies that the educational intervention aims to develop in students.
   • These outcomes should be measurable, observable, and aligned with the broader educational goals and standards.
2. Employ a Multi-Dimensional Approach to Evaluation:
   • Utilize a variety of assessment methods, both quantitative and qualitative, to capture the multifaceted nature of student learning and development.
   • This can include standardized tests, performance-based assessments, student portfolios, classroom observations, and surveys or interviews with students, teachers, and other stakeholders.
3. Incorporate Contextual Factors:
   • Recognize that the effectiveness of an educational intervention can be influenced by a wide range of contextual factors, such as school resources, class size, teaching experience, socioeconomic status, and cultural background.
   • Collect and analyze data on these contextual factors to understand their impact on the intervention’s effectiveness.
4. Employ Multilevel Modeling:
   • Utilize statistical techniques, such as multilevel modeling or hierarchical linear modeling, to account for the nested structure of educational data (e.g., students nested within classrooms, classrooms nested within schools).
   • This approach allows for the examination of the unique contributions of student, teacher, and school-level factors on the outcomes of interest.
5. Engage in Iterative Refinement:
   • Adopt a continuous improvement mindset, where the evaluation process informs ongoing adjustments and refinements to the educational intervention.
   • Regularly review and analyze the data to identify areas for improvement, and implement changes to enhance the intervention’s effectiveness.
6. Foster Collaborative Partnerships:
   • Engage various stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers, in the development and implementation of the evaluation framework.
   • This collaborative approach can help ensure that the framework is comprehensive, relevant, and tailored to the specific needs and contexts of the educational system.
7. Ensure Ethical and Equitable Practices:
   • Uphold ethical principles, such as confidentiality, informed consent, and equitable access to educational opportunities, throughout the evaluation process.
   • Regularly review the assessment methods and data collection procedures to identify and address any potential biases or inequities.

According to the Census, 2011, 10.1 million children (3.9% of the children population) are employed as workers in India. Despite legislative measures like Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and various constitutional provisions under articles 21A, 24, and 39, child labour continues to exist in the country.
Different determinants of the occurrence of child labour in India are as follows:

• Poverty: The main and most prominent reason behind children being forced into work and away from education is poverty. For many poor families in India who are struggling to meet their basic needs, seeking employment for their children is a means to more income.
• Inequality: The incidence of child labour is significantly higher in districts with higher per capita district domestic product (PCDDP), in case of urban areas. The increase in PCDDP is not evenly distributed leading to high inequality. This, consequently, contributes to the continuation of child labour in urban areas.
• Caste discrimination: There is positive correlation between socially disadvantaged caste group and incidence of child labour in rural areas.
• Mother’s education: There is a crucial positive impact of a mother’s education on the well-being of the child. Higher the percentage of mothers having at least middle school level of education, lower is the incidence of child labour.
• Demand for labour in agriculture and household industries (HHI): Agriculture and HHI demand work that requires engagement of the entire family to cut down on costs of hiring labourers. This necessitates the involvement of children in these particular sectors.
• Poor quality of government schools: Education provided in government schools, especially in the rural areas, is of inferior quality. Hence, parents may find it more beneficial for their children to join the labour force instead of continuing with their education there. This is more so the case in the households where the decision-making parents are not educated.

Measures to tackle the issue of child labour in India

• Educate the mothers: Given the important role that mother’s education plays in mitigating child labour, schemes to promote education among females that are already in place need to be improved. It will also provide employment opportunities for them.
• Improve educational infrastructure; Better quality of government schools, particularly in rural areas, needs to be ensured. Although policies such as midday meals and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have come a long way, efforts must be directed towards imparting quality education such that the parents find it beneficial to send their children to school.
• The positive impact of reservation of seats in education and public employment is probably the reason behind lower incidence of child labour in urban areas with higher SC/ST children population. Thus, steps need to be taken to ensure that people belonging to the backward castes in rural areas are also made aware of their rights.
• Equitable growth: Policies must be focused not only on increasing per capita income but should also guarantee its equitable distribution, especially in urban areas. Pro-poor growth would help mitigate the incidences of child labour.
• Strengthening legislative framework and strict labour inspections: The government should enforce and strengthen existing laws related to child labour. Moreover, effective monitoring and enforcement of labour laws are essential.

The Indian government must continue to crack down on employers that take advantage of child labourers and ignore the law while, at the same time, improve the education system in order to break these cycles of poverty.

Article 154 vests the executive power of the State in the Governor. Article 163 categorically provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers to aid and advise the Governor except when this Constitution requires him to exercise his functions in his discretion.
This discretionary power and ambiguity in certain provisions is sometimes misused by the Governor leading to certain controversies, which have been seen in recent times also:

• The Telangana government filed a petition in Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Governor, to grant assent to Bills passed by the State Assembly.
• Recently, the Apex Court also disposed of a petition from the Punjab Government that was aggrieved by an alleged delay in the Governor summoning the Assembly.
• Tamil Nadu Governor’s refusal to abide by the State Cabinet’s recommendation to release the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case convict and forward his pardon plea to the President.
• Recently, the Kerala High Court restrained the Governor of the state in his capacity as Chancellor of universities, from passing final orders on the show cause notices he issued to VCs of eight universities.

Such instances do not augur well for constitutional governance. Therefore, it has been argued that the office of Governor needs reforms as highlighted below:

• Committee for Appointment: Appointing the Governor from a body comprising representatives of both the states and the Centre as well as from the judiciary will ensure fair play and address the perception of bias.
• Security of tenure: It would ensure impartiality and independence of the office; and governors would be able to make their decision in the public interest rather than in the political interest.
• Code of conduct for Governor: It should lay down certain ‘norms and principles’, which should guide the exercise of the governor’s ‘discretion’.
• Strengthening of Federalism: In order to check misuse of the office of Governor, there is a need to strengthen the federal setup in India by strengthening Inter-State Council and the role of Rajya Sabha as the chamber of federalism.
• Removing its role as Chancellor of Universities: As suggested by Punchhi Commission, ending the practice of burdening Governors with the office of Chancellor in Universities should also be considered after establishing alternative means of protecting University autonomy.
• No office of profit: The person appointed as Governor should not be eligible for any other appointment or office of profit under the Union or State Government except for a second term as Governor or election as Vice-President or President of India.

These reforms would ensure that the faith of the citizens in India’s democratic institutions increases and the scope for allegations of foul play is reduced, leading towards better governance.