The achievements made by schools in Gozo participating in the EkoSkola Malta / LEAF Learning about Forests Malta programmes, have been celebrated by the Europe Direct Information Centre Victoria, Gozo in collaboration with Nature Trust – FEE Malta.
This year due to the Covid-19 pandemic schools were closed in mid-March, however, four schools had excelled in their endeavour by getting not only students, but also their families on board, the organisers said.
For the fourth consecutive year schools were provided with topics which fall under the priorities of the European Union.
St Francis Kindergarten School in Nadur focused on Climate Change through investigating how marine life is being affected through human actions.
St Francis Primary School Victoria Gozo upper years focused on Climate Change, whilst the younger year groups focused on Marine Life.
Xewkija Primary School researched about Fig Trees growing on the Maltese islands, tackled the research from a different angle covering planting, propagation, green up and green down, growth rate, different species, product made from figs and recipes using figs.
Gozo College Middle School students also chose plastic Marine Litter as their main focus, making a full-blown investigation on the effects of plastic litter on seawater temperature and pH values.
The Europe Direct Information Centre – Victoria said that the judges had a hard time choosing between the projects since the amount of work was impressive, besides the whole school approach, the community outreach, one even involving contacts with a foreign school and the enthusiasm shown by the students to care for the world and make it better.
Gozo College Middle School was awarded 1st Prize and was presented an aerosol sun photometer costing €500 sponsored by BOV. The other three schools were each awarded €100 funded by Europe Direct Information Centre-Victoria Gozo.
One of the schools opted to buy trees for the school’s garden, whilst the other two schools chose bamboo toothbrushes, stainless steel straws and reusable vegetable bags to give to students and parents to further promote sustainable living.
Vincent Attard, Nature Trust-FEE Malta Executive President, Horace Laudi, Chief Officer Retail Banking at Bank of Valletta and Dr Elena Grech, Head of the European Commission Representation in Malta, expressed how much they had been impressed by the amount of work and enthusiasm shown by all students and thanked and congratulated them for their efforts and insistence to learn to live sustainably and help and guide adults to do the same in order to have a better world.
Photos: EDIC-Gozo