Around 60 primary schools attended the launch of BirdLife Malta and Bank of Valletta’s environmental education programme, Dinja Wahda, for the new scholastic year.

The launch ceremony at the Attard Parish Auditorium also saw the schools from Malta and Gozo being awarded trophies for their participation in last year’s Dinja Wahda programme.

The teachers and children who were present were addressed by the Director of Curriculum Management and eLearning, Mr. Raymond J. Camilleri, who was also present for the ceremony.

Dinja Wahda offers 30 green activities through an Action Guide and teachers choose which activities to carry out with their students. Each activity carries points and at the end of the year, schools are awarded Merit, Bronze, Silver or Gold trophies, as well as certificates, depending on the number of points earned.

Malta’s foremost animation team – ZOO, joined in the launch and entertained attending school children with an interactive play. The play brought to life Dinja Wahda’s Action Guide through ZOO’s own special interpretation of the programme activities.

Edward Muscat Azzopardi, Bank of Valletta’s Head of Marketing commented on the importance of encouraging environmental awareness and responsibility in our children. The environmental education programme used to run biannually but thanks to Bank of Valletta’s joining as BirdLife Malta’s education partner, Dinja Wahda now runs on an annual basis.

“Dinja Wahda was developed by BirdLife Malta in the 90’s as a means of giving our children the much needed environmental education.” said BirdLife Malta Education Coordinator Desiree Falzon. “Schools have acknowledged the importance of promoting environmental education and this can clearly be seen by the steady growth of participation in the programme. Today Dinja Wahda is Malta’s largest environmental education programme for primary school children, 70% of schools implemented it during the last scholastic year.” concluded Ms Falzon.

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