Govt spearheads ‘green’ agenda sessions in schools
Three schools in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) last week benefited from engagements on climate change as Government continued its countrywide sessions, which are aimed at educating students on the effects of the global phenomenon and Guyana’s pursuit of a ‘green’ agenda.
A team, comprising staff from the Office of Climate Change (OCC), which falls under the Ministry of the Presidency and volunteers from the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), delivered 90-minute sessions at the All Saints Primary, the New Amsterdam Multilateral and the Manchester Secondary Schools on Friday last.
Office of Climate Change Communications Specialist Yasmin Bowman engaging students of the New Amsterdam Multilateral School on Friday
During the course of each session, short videos detailing the effects of rising sea levels, importance of water management, the impact of climate change on the Caribbean region and Guyana, among other related areas, were shown to the students, after which they were given steps they could take in the home and at school to combat the effects. It was followed by a reinforcement session in which the students were quizzed and given prizes.
Communications Specialist at the OCC, Yasmin Bowman noted that the outreach to the Region was one in a series of outreaches, which have been planned by the Department for the first quarter of 2017. A total of 20 schools were targeted and thus far, 14 have been visited.
“What we have been doing is engaging a lot of the schools in Regions Four, Five, Six and next week, we are going to Region 10. The purpose of this awareness session is exactly what I said, to bring awareness to the students on climate change. From the interactions, we have had over the last few weeks, we have noticed that a number of schools and children are not familiar with climate change in general or what climate change is. Some of them have never even heard about the Office of Climate Change and so, we are hoping that once we come to the school, we can bring awareness to the children,” she explained.
The students of the All Saints Primary with the volunteers of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network and staff of the Office of Climate Change
Bowman added that the sessions, however, were also aimed at promoting behavioural change with regard to the treatment of the environment, especially at a time when Guyana has embarked on a ‘green’ development plan.
In addition to primary and secondary school students, “we would also be engaging nursery level students, but their awareness sessions will be done in the form of puppeteering as against the format we used for the secondary and primary school children, where we have videos and a reinforcement session and power-point to ensure they grasp as much as possible. What we did not want to do is to use one paintbrush to cover everything so we did the awareness in a format where the child could have an appreciation for what is happening,” she said.
Meanwhile, National Coordinator for CYEN, Elon McCurdie, said that the organisation wanted to focus primarily on climate change and its impacts and to identify actions that youths could take within the communities, schools and homes so that they could help in the process.
“With them being children now and them taking on actions, whether it is at school or at home, they are now heading into a more sustainable lifestyle so that as they get older, these are things that they can use to help Guyana and themselves,” she said.
McCurdie is hopeful that the programme can also be taken to the hinterland regions and not just the coastland, to ensure that a concerted effort is taken to combat climate change and global warming and to raise support for the path Guyana has chosen.
Additionally, Headmaster of the All Saints Primary, Bassant Jagdeo, who sat in on the session facilitated at his school, said that the initiative was commendable and must be taken across the country so that behavioural change could be achieved for the good of the environment and the country as a whole.
“I really appreciate this and not only on my behalf, but the entire school population. The kids are the ones that we have to target and the ones who need to become more aware. I know that a lot of the adults are neglectful in their actions and saving our earth, but if we can start with the youths, then we are going to have a positive reward in years to come. This is a very great initiative and we should not only target schools but homes too need to be a part. Parents need to be involved, because this starts from the home,” he remarked.
The school has been promoting its own little project in its compound, which sees plants being grown and the students having responsibility to take care of them. The Headmaster noted that that this was aimed at inculcating responsibility for the environment in the child so that they could be conscious in their actions.
