Eco Schools expand to 13,000 children

Thirteen thousand children are now taking part in Malta's version of the international programme, Eco Schools. The project is led by Nature Trust (Malta) and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

The FEE is an international organisation set up in 1994 supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Union, among other organisations. Today around 14,000 schools are participating in Eco Schools from 38 countries around the world and over 4,000 schools have obtained the FEE international standard award of the Green Flag. Each country has an FEE representative which has to be a competent environmental NGO.

EkoSkola (Malta) was launched in Malta in 2003 starting off with six participating schools. It is supported by the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment. The HSBC Cares for the Environment Fund and the HSBC Cares for Children Fund are the main sponsors of the project with a donation of Lm5,300 for the current scholastic year.

EkoSkola is a programme empowering students to take informed decisions and participate pro-actively in matters related to the environment. It aims at mobilising whole schools to adopt an active role in environmental action, improve their quality of life, and foster sustainable lifestyles.

Students have hands-on experience whereby they set up a committee managed by themselves. The committee's work is to undertake an environmental audit of the school and work towards targets to improve the environmental issues within the schools relating to waste, water, energy, nature areas and others. When targets are reached, the schools apply to the FEE for the Green Flag recognition of standards.

EkoSkola also organises the annual Eko Parlament where participating schools attend a parliamentary session and discuss environmental issues with Members of Parliament.

"The world belongs to us all and we all have to do our bit to look after it and make it a better place to live in," said HSBC's CEO Shaun Wallis, addressing children, parents and teachers at the EkoSkola seminar held at Pembroke parish hall.

Representatives of school staff and local councils are invited to participate and support this initiative, together with the community.