Population Education

The total number of people living in a particular place, at a particular time, is known as a population. Population studies are concerned with the size, composition, and distribution of the population. The knowledge of population studies is important for planning, particularly by governments in the fields such as health, education, housing, social security, employment, and environmental preservation. The governments are concerned with its size, its structure and characteristics, its distribution, and the changes taking place due to the interaction of fertility, mortality, and migration.

Population education can be defined as a process of developing awareness and understanding of the population situations among people and making them more responsible towards managing the population. It is an educational program that provides learners the study of population situation in family, community, nation and the world with the purpose of developing rational and responsible attitudes and behavior towards that situation.

Population education makes people aware of population-related issues. It is an educational process that focuses on population and its management. It is a continuous and dynamic process. It gives knowledge about the population situation, makes people aware of population problems, and teaches methods for its proper management. It also brings about changes in their behaviors. By doing so, it makes the people more responsible for solving population-related problems. Thus, there is an improvement in the quality of their lives.

Importance of Population Education

The rapid growth of the population affects every aspect of the daily life of the people. For example, it affects natural calamities, causes unemployment, increases deforestation, causes violations of rules and regulations. People are attracted to urban areas where better facilities and opportunities are available.

This has increased the population in urban areas, to levels that are becoming difficult to manage. On the other hand, the population in the rural areas has started falling resulting in the underutilization of available resources. If this situation continues for a long period of time, the nation will have to face a lot of troubles. Population education can play a major role in reversing this trend.

Nepalese society still prefers a son to a daughter. If they don't get a son, they continue to increase their family size to get more sons and stay in large families. In addition, early marriage still continues to occur in Nepal. All these factors are increasing population rapidly. This is called rapid population growth. Population education can help in identifying the root causes of rapid population growth. Population education teaches people about the importance and values of a small family to make family life happy, peaceful, and prosperous.

Evolution of Population Education

Population Education was coined by professor S. R. Wayland of Columbia University, the USA in 1935. That is why he is regarded as the father of population education. The United Nations Seminar on Population in Asia and the Far East, held in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955, focused attention on increasing population trends within the region covered by the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE). The seminar realized that the current rising population growth rates largely negated or probably even retarded the effects of the national socio-economic situation.

The United Nations International Conference on Population was held in Cairo, Egypt from 5–13 September 1994. The conferences were significant for disseminating information about the adverse effects of rapid population growth and running the campaign to find solutions through collective efforts. Likewise, the International Conference on Population was also held in Bucharest, Romania in 1974 and in Mexico City, Mexico in 1984.

The population education program was initiated in 2037 in Nepal. The population education was included in the school and university curriculum in the same year. National Population Commission was established in 2038 B.S. in Nepal. Likewise, the Ministry of Population and Environment was established in Nepal in 2052 B.S.

The goal of population education is to provide young people and adults with an awareness of the interrelationships between population and development, especially the socio-economic aspects which fall under the 'quality of life, such as the environment, resources, health, education, employment, and other social services, as well as traditional beliefs and practices.

Areas of Population Education

Population Education has a very wide scope. It may change according to the needs and context of a particular country. Major scopes or areas of population education can be mentioned as given below:

Demography

Population study as a discipline is known as demography. Demography is the science of populations. Demographers deals by investigating three main demographic processes; birth, migration, and death. All three of these processes contribute to changes in populations, including how people inhabit the earth, from nations and societies, and develop culture.

Population Change

Population change is the difference between the size of the population to the end and the beginning of a period. The population keeps changing in the course of time. Birth, death, and migration are the determinates of population change. Population education deals with all these socio-economic factors such as culture, norms, values, and biological aspects.

Future Planning

Population Education suggests government plans for a better future. It helps to formulate policies and programs which help for solutions. It helps to maintain a quality of life. It provides knowledge about the sanitation of population, problems faced by population and needs of them. It helps to maintain the quality of life.

Reproductive Health

Reproductive health implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life. It is the capability to reproduce, and the freedom to decide if, when, and how often to do so. It also studies sexual behaviors, the reproductive system, reproductive process, STDs and their prevention, etc.

Significance

Rapid population growth is a major issue in today's world. Birth is the most important parameter deciding population growth, as it indicates how many new children are added every year to the existing population. The death rate can also lead to conclusions about the population growth rate of a country.
Population education has developed as an important discipline in most of the developing countries like ours. It encourages the couple to have fewer children and maintain a small family. It provides guidelines for drafting plans and programs to manage the population.