Pupils take the environment under their protection

Pupils from schools in Corfu are invited to join forces to protect the environment in an effort to give children a positive attitude towards it.

This year's devastating floods and fires made the Ministry of Education to implement the educational programme entitled "Schools 'adopt' land and coastal ecosystems of Greece", aiming to raise awareness amongst pupils and make them actively participate in actions to protect the land and coastal ecosystems of Greece.

The relevant circular has already been distributed to primary and secondary schools throughout the country, so that pupils can learn how to protect the environment in practice and understand the value of preventing natural disasters and the costs of climate change.

This issue also affects Corfu as in July a large part of the northeastern part of the island was burnt in a major fire that lasted for days, leaving behind thousands of stremma of ashes and a major destruction of the ecosystem.

'Adoption'

In the framework of the programme, each school is proposed to 'adopt' a specific area (park, grove, suburban green area, mixed activity zone, forest, lowland area, recently burnt or flooded area, specific coastline area, etc.). The aim is to obtain and process data on the adopted ecosystem, monitor its evolution over time with emphasis on land use changes and possible violations and interventions on it, and take actions to prevent, protect and raise awareness of sustainable practices for the adopted area in the school community, the local and wider society by any appropriate means, as well as by using digital technologies and social media.

School managements have already started to work on ideas on how their pupils can contribute, so that as "ambassadors" they can create a safety net in their area and thus contribute to raising awareness in the local community.

For example, the Liapades Junior High School pupils will 'adopt' two of the most popular beaches, Rovinia and Liapades beach in Paleokastritsa, which they will protect. The action will be implemented by cleaning up the beaches, collecting and recording them and disseminating the results.

As the school principal Konstantinos Kostalis told Enimerosi, the pupils will not only become active but will also develop environmental awareness and proper behaviour on beaches, starting with the collection of their own rubbish.

Photo: Liapades Korfu / Facebook

MARIA BAZDRIYIANNI