Parliamentarians were joined by children from 31 schools for the eighth edition of the EkoSkola parliament session.

Some 68 students sat side by side with ministers and members of the opposition to vote on a motion presented by two young EkoSkola members.

The Motion, “Caring for our future”, was presented by Bradley Debono, 11, and Casey Parnis,10, of Floriana Primary School.

“I found out I would be presenting the motion about two weeks ago. I think it’s an important topic- we study it in school,” said the young Bradley Debono who was also celebrating his birthday. “I wasn’t shy talking to them, they’re just people,” he added.

The motion was approved to the applause of the young children and the parents who filled the strangers’ gallery. It focused mainly on fostering further awareness of the importance of environmentally sustainable policy.

Mariah Balzan, a young student from Gozo College, Xewkija, said, “A study we conducted found that most of our parents threw away the fliers and other mail you sent during the election campaign. We look for environmentally sustainable solutions to our paper needs at school- you should too.”

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat applauded the motion, saying, “I think we can all agree this has been the best session of parliament so far- sometimes our backbench can get even noisier than the ones in your schools.”