Enviro-Spellathon launched

The Enviro-Spellathon opened here yesterday following its overwhelming success in Abu Dhabi last year.

Enviro-Spellathon, the UAE's largest environmental education programme targeting primary schools in four emirates, was launched at a ceremony at Al Qasba Canal.

Initiated in Abu Dhabi last year, the Enviro-Spellathon drew as many as 45,000 student participants.

More than 125,000 primary school children aged between six and 12 in Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are targetted.

In Sharjah alone, over 20,000 students from 70 public and private schools will participate. Joining Sharjah's Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA) in programme implementation are Dubai Municipality, the Environmental Protection and Industrial Development Commission (EPIDC) in Ras Al Khaimah, Environmental Res-earch and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) in Abu Dhabi, Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Abdul Aziz Al Midfa, EPAA Director, said: "The authority was set up to conserve nature and natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations. Promoting environmental awareness is one of our objectives and we are happy to participate in the Enviro-Spellathon, which will strengthen education work that we are already doing."

Majid Al Mansouri, ERWDA Secretary General, said: "The response has been enormous, drawing 172 schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region. This year, not only have we enlarged the geographical coverage to include other emirates, but we have also increased the scope by targetting more age groups and developing additional study materials."

Salim Zayed Al Tineiji, Director General of Sharjah Educational District, said the district has been supporting environmental issues alongside other authorities.

"Our environment is so demanding. It is time we do something to care about our environment. The success and demand for Enviro-Spellathon is evident in the increasing number of participants. We will include environmental programmes in the curricula. Instilling environment awareness among younger generations will help us preserve our bio-diversity and a cleaner environment."

The Enviro-Spellathon encourages children to read and comprehend information on local plants, animals and habitats provided in six publications. The programme also urges families to get involved when children bring home their course work.

Dr Frederic Launay, director of EWS-WWF, said: "In a country where the bulk of the population lives in cities and people's lifestyle are disconnected from nature, the Enviro-Spellathon's focus on local species and habitats help inculcate interest in natural resource conservation among students from an early age.

"The programme will help in spreading conservation messages through hundreds of schools students and teachers. We hope that their families reap the benefits too."

Booklets are designed to be read over a period of two weeks after which coordinator teachers of each school test them. At the end, certificates or gifts are awarded to participants depending on their scores with the best being nominated Enviro-Spellathon Ambassadors.

This is the second year running that Shell is sponsoring the project.