Students who attend the Xewkija Primary School within the Gozo College celebrated Arbor Day in Gozo. Other students from various Gozitan schools participated in this activity together with their teachers.

The Hands on Farming section based at the Government Farm in Xewkija regularly holds activities for students who attend schools within the Gozo College. One of the annual activities is the commemoration of Arbor Day which falls on January the 16th. Each year a Gozitan school hosts a ceremony, through which Gozitan students get the opportunity to increase their awareness about the importance of trees for our environment.

This year it was Xewkija Primary School’s turn to hold this activity through the collaboration of the Head and all the staff. The prepared programme included the recital of poems and prose, a mime and an exhibition of projects prepared by the students themselves on the subject of trees. A commemorative plaque, marking the 80th anniversary from the first Arbor Day ceremony held in Gozo, was later unveiled. In fact the first trees planted in Gozo on the occasion of the first Arbor Day commemoration were those in St Francis Square, Victoria. Other trees planted in similar occasions were those found in Ghasri Road and others found on the road from Xewkija to Ghajnsielem.

The planting of trees in the school’s garden by year 6 students brought the activity to an end. All the students present for the occasion were given seeds of indigenous plants so as to sow them at home.

Hands on Farming activities continue throughout the scholastic year with students from all schools in Gozo attending for practical sessions held at the Government’s Farm in Xewkija. The students are given information on Maltese indigenous plants and trees and have a hands on experience by sowing seeds of these plants. During past years, the plants which had been sown during such sessions, were later planted in schools around Gozo, in order that students would have living examples of the plants and trees they study about in their lessons.

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