Abu Dhabi: The Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) has concluded its 12th annual Enviro-Spellathon Programme.
This year has been one of the most successful with the participation of 366 schools and 150,528 students, an EAD press release said on Sunday.
The Annual Enviro-Spellathon is a curriculum-integrated educational programme targeting school students from the ages of four to 13 years in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It aims to enhance children’s environmental knowledge and instil environmentally friendly behaviour in them from a young age.
Since its inception, the programme has been run in collaboration with the support of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) and Shell Abu Dhabi.
Running annually for the past 12 years, the programme saw the participation of thousands of students from across the Emirate. This year’s edition saw EAD distribute more than 151,000 awards and certificates to students and coordinators to recognise their efforts.
Besides enhancing language and vocabulary skills, the bilingual booklets published by EAD were distributed to participating students. They are designed to help promote eco-literacy by educating students on local flora and fauna and key environmental challenges faced by the emirate.
The students are then asked to study the illustrative and educational booklets before taking a graded test in English and/or Arabic.
To cater to the different age groups, the programme offers seven levels with different themes: waste, wildlife of the UAE, wildlife in the cities, wildlife of the desert, wildlife of the seas, water is precious and managing our waste.
Fozeya Ebrahim Al Mahmoud, director of the environmental outreach division, at EAD, said: “With our aim of creating a generation of environmentally aware leaders of tomorrow, it is essential that we have a long-term planning mindset. With our programmes, we follow these generations from the youngest stages through to university, equipping them with the knowledge and skills that will empower them to champion sustainable development in the Emirate. While participation rates continue to rise year on year, we do not measure our success in numbers,” she said.
EAD recently introduced its Sustainable Campus Initiative aimed at universities in Abu Dhabi.
EAD has strengthened its environmental education efforts through developing print and online resource materials. Its print materials include the Climate Change Series, which discusses the issue of climate change and how changing our behaviour as individuals can result in better outcomes for the environment, as well as a book on e-waste on reducing the use of electronic devices to protect the environment in the long run.
Along with its educational materials, EAD also publishes creative pieces by students such as stories submitted for the Annual Environment Competition. To better reach the youth and engage them through a popular medium, EAD also created the online portal, Shaheen’s World (accessible via www.ead.ae) and offers customised environmental education games such as Greeno, eco smart business and environmental champion game.
