77 schools across Gozo and Malta have celebrated their outstanding achievements in connecting children with nature through BirdLife Malta’s Dinja Wahda environmental education programme.

The programme is spread across all year groups from Kinder to Secondary students.

The Dinja Wahda 2023 Awards Ceremony, celebrating the success of the 2022/2023 scholastic year, took place at The Minstrel’s Hall, Xara Lodge, Rabat, on Thursday morning.

In the Primary sector 53 schools received the Gold Award, six schools received the Silver Award, three schools were awarded with Bronze, and 11 schools received a Certificate.

Three new schools received the Blue Banner, an award for schools that maintain the Gold Award for three consecutive years. In the Secondary sector three schools received the Gold Award, and one school the Bronze Award.

During the last scholastic year the BirdLife Malta education team happily welcomed 5,652 students at Simar, Foresta 2000, Ghadira and Salina Nature Reserves for guided field visits. 37 schools reported activities and exciting feedback from its newest Dinja Wahda Action Guide.

This morning’s ceremony also marked the launch of a new scholastic year of engagement (2023/2024) fully transitioning to the Dinja Wahda new Action Guide, which forms part of BirdLife Malta’s commitment to protect wildlife and its habitats through nature-based learning activities.

The programme is run in collaboration with the Directorate for Learning & Assessment Programmes and is supported by our partners in education, Bank of Valletta.

Another highlight of today’s event was the sharing of the latest updates in regard to the Gonna Dinja Wahda scheme, which saw green spaces in schools turned into wildlife magnets through support from BirdLife Malta.

This year, seven Dinja Wahda Gardens have had additional support from a new maintenance team funded by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).

The awards were presented to schools by BirdLife Malta President Darryl Grima and Francesco Grech from the CSR team within Bank of Valletta (BOV). Charles Azzopardi, Head of CSR & Communication at BOV and BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana were in attendance.

Commenting about this year’s awards, BirdLife Malta Education Manager Stefania Papadopol said. “it is such an honour to work with so many dedicated schools. It gives hope to hear and see children enjoying and learning about nature and most importantly, taking steps to bring nature back to schools. Hope is important in such times when our natural environment is facing so many challenges, yet teachers and students manage to show us that change is possible.”

BirdLife Malta congratulated all the participating schools for their hard work this year and gave a special thanks to the Dinja Wahda coordinators who ensure the running of the programme in their school and support the teachers voluntarily.

“Without these coordinators, children would not be able to develop the skills, knowledge, and values to protect the environment promoted through the Dinja Wahda programme,” it said.

BirdLife Malta also thanked BOV for its continuous support as the programme’s educational partner and official sponsor and ERA for its commitment with Gonna Dinja Wahda.

Photo by Antoine Monnier

Permalink: 77 schools awarded for connecting children with nature