Primary schools celebrate achievements in environmental education

Mark Sultana and Bank of Valletta’s PR & Marketing Executive Charles Azzopardi who were accompanied by BirdLife Malta Education Officer, Sarah Brady. Present at Salina were representatives from all the participating schools including students, teachers and headteachers together with other education officials.

Apart from celebrating the success of schools involvement during the last scholastic year, today’s ceremony also marked the launch of a new year of engagement in the initiative.

BirdLife Malta’s Dinja Waħda initiative forms part of the NGO’s commitment to protect wildlife and its habitats through outdoor activities for school children both in school grounds and through educational visits to Malta’s nature reserves to help them connect with nature. The programme is run in collaboration with the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education (DQSE) and is supported by the European Commission Representation in Malta. It has been running for more than 20 years.

BirdLife Malta congratulated all the participating schools for their hard work this year as well as give a special thanks to the Dinja Waħda 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 gained through participation in the Dinja Waħda programme.

BirdLife Malta is also delighted to announce that Bank of Valletta (BOV) has decided to support the Dinja Waħda programme. This was recognised at today’s event with BOV representatives also presenting BirdLife Malta with a sponsorship for Dinja Waħda 2017-2018 apart from distributing prizes to the schools.

During last week’s ceremony, BirdLife Malta also launched their new children’s book, Għasafar Madwarna. The second edition of this colourful junior guide to birds in the Maltese Islands created by Victor Falzon is aimed at engaging children in learning about and identifying Maltese nature. When it was originally published in 2004 this book won the national award for Best Illustrated Children’s Book.