Georgetown, Guyana – (March 18, 2017) The Office of Climate Change (OCC), which falls under the purview of the Ministry of the Presidency, in collaboration with the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN), yesterday, visited three schools in East Berbice-Corentyne (Region Six) to continue its countrywide Climate Change sessions, which are aimed at educating students on the effects of the global phenomenon and Guyana’s pursuit of a ‘green’ agenda.
The team, comprised of staff from the Office of Climate Change and volunteers from the CYEN, delivered 90-minute sessions the All Saints Primary, the New Amsterdam Multilateral and the Manchester Secondary Schools.
During the course of each session, short videos detailing the effects of rising sea levels, importance of water management, the impact of Climate Change on the Caribbean region and Guyana, among other related areas, were shown to the students, after which they were given measures and steps they can take in the home and at school to combat the effects. It was followed by a reinforcement session in which the students were quizzed and given prizes.
Head of the Office of Climate Change, Ms. Janelle Christian hands over a poster for the All Saints Primary to the Head Master, Ms. Bassant Jagdeo
Ms. Yasmin Bowman, Communications Specialist at the OCC, in an invited comment, said that the outreach to the region is one in a series of outreaches, which have been planned by Department for the first quarter of 2017. A total of 20 schools were targeted and thus far, 14 have been completed.
“What we have been doing is engaging a lot of the schools in Regions 4, 5, 6 and next week we are going to Region 10. The purpose of this awareness session is exactly what I said, to bring awareness to the students on Climate Change. From the interactions, we have had over the last few weeks, we have noticed that a number of schools and children are not familiar with Climate Change in general or what Climate Change is. Some of them have never even heard about the Office of Climate Change and so we are hoping that once we come to the school, we can bring awareness to the children,” she explained.
Ms. Bowman added that the sessions, however, are also aimed at promoting behaviour change with regard to the treatment of the environment especially at a time when Guyana has embarked on a ‘green’ development plan. In addition to Primary and Secondary School students, “we would also be engaging nursery level students but their awareness sessions will be done in the form of puppeteering as against the format we used for the Secondary and Primary School children, where we have videos and a reinforcement session and power-point to ensure they grasp as much as possible. What we did not want to do is to use one paint brush to cover everything so we did the awareness in a format where the child could have an appreciation for what is happening,” she said.
Some of the students of the All Saints Primary having a ‘selfie’ moment with the staff and volunteers of the OCC and CYEN.
Ms. Elon McCurdie, National Coordinator for CYEN, said that the organisation wants to focus primarily on climate change and its impacts and to identify actions that youths can take within the communities, schools and homes so that they can help in the process. “With them being children now and them taking on actions, whether it is at school or at home, they are now heading into a more sustainable lifestyle so that as they get older, these are things that they can use to help Guyana and themselves,” she said.
Ms. McCurdie is hopeful that the programme can also be taken to the Hinterland regions and not just the Coastland, to ensure that a concerted effort is taken to combat Climate Change and global warming and to raise support for the path, which Guyana has chosen to go.
Meanwhile, Head Master of the All Saints Primary, Mr. Bassant Jagdeo, who sat in the session facilitated at his school, said that the initiative is commendable and must be taken across the country so that behaviour changes can be achieved for the good of the environment and the country as a whole.
“I really appreciate this and not only on my behalf but the entire school population. The kids are the ones that we have to target and the ones who need to become more aware. I know that a lot of the adults are neglectful in their actions and saving our earth but if we can start with the youths, then we are going to have a positive reward in years to come. This is a very great initiative and we should not only target schools but homes too need to be apart. Parents need to be involved because this starts from the home,” he said.
The school has been promoting its own little project in its compound, which sees plants being grown and the students having responsibility to take care of them. Mr. Jagdeo said that this is aimed at inculcating responsibility for the environment in the child so that they can be conscious in their actions.
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