Ndey Siren Bakurin reiterated that the transfer of knowledge into school children in particular and the public at large on sound environmental management and sustainable development guarantees a healthy environment for everyone.
Mrs Bakurin made these remarks at the agency`s recent presentation of assorted cleansing materials to Essau Lower Basic School in the Lower Nuimi District of NBR, one of the collaborating schools in the agency`s schools environment Outreach programme.
She however disclosed that creating linkages built on common understanding, through diverse communication methods, including focus group discussions and field visits to schools, could help one to take ownership of the environment and further spread the message on how to protect, improve and preserve the environment.
At the colourful presentation ceremony held at the school grounds, the NEA Executive Director disclosed that environmental protection needs holistic efforts from all walks of life to achieve any national sustainable development agenda.
She pointed out that the importance of the Operation Clean the Nation (OCN), the Anti-littering Regulation and its social benefits are to create a positive image of the country, boost tourism potentials of the nation, reduce the incidence of vector-borne diseases especially malaria, and contribute to the country`s attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs).
Bakurin said her agency`s Schools Environment Outreach Programme aims to inculcate environmental education knowledge and skills into schoolchildren for them to serve as agents of change, as environmental information forms the crux of environmental action.
She underlined with importance the prominent role school children and mother-Clubs in schools play in disseminating information at home and communities, thus serving as catalysts for environmental action and behaviour change.
The presentation was followed by a conducted tour of the school premises including the school garden, its banana plantation, classrooms and the kitchen, where members of the school`s mothers club were busy cooking the day’s meal for the children.
She thanked the school headmaster, the administration team and the school environment coordinator Awa Bah for their dedication and willingness to contribute to the development of the school`s environment agenda.
Receiving the assorted cleansing materials on behalf of the school, Headmaster Lamin Njai thanked the NEA for another show of the agency’s magnanimity to his school and the community of Essau.
He noted with confidence that the availability of such cleansing materials would boost their morals and efforts in keeping the school environment clean and greener.
The items presented included 5 wheelbarrows, 3 stand-wheel trash bins, 5 spades, 5 garden forks and 5 cutlasses.
Mr Njai, a winning-prize environmentalist, vowed to transform and uplift the face of the school to an environmental friendly one matching towards sustainable development.
As the garden season has just started, he said, the donated materials would go a long way in dispensing the problem of inadequate materials they were having in executing their duties.
“On behalf of my Regional Director, PTA, teachers and pupils of Essau LBS, I thank the NEA for their collaborative solicited gesture,” Master Njai concluded.
