By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Koforidua, July 1, GNA – With 54 points, the Freeman Methodist Basic School in the New Juaben South Municipality won the quiz competition organised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Ghana Education Service.
It was followed by Sarkodie Basic ‘A’ School with 44 points, Nana Kwaku Boateng Basic ‘B’ School with 43 points, RIIS Presbyterian Model School with 42 points, and the Koforidua Presbyterian Basic School Complex with 40 points.
The five schools received Veronica buckets, dustbins, and tissue paper, while participating students were awarded certificates for their participation, as well as school bags from Zoomlion, exercise books, mathematical sets, and pens.
The quiz competition, which was to commemorate the second edition of World Environment Day, went through four rounds; multiple-choice questions (rounds one and two), true or false questions (round three), and riddles (final round).
The competing schools were provided with study materials including “Nii Noi the Sanitation Officer” written by Naomi Adjei, Functions of the EPA and Information on World Environment Day.
The global theme for the World Environment Day was: “Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience,” while “A Journey to a Greener Future” was the ltheme used in Ghana as a national theme alongside the global theme with the slogan: “Our Land Our Future.”
Mr Felix Addo-Okyireh, the Eastern Regional Director, EPA, observed that nurturing students at the basic level of education on the environment and its advantages would contribute to raising responsible leaders to protect the environment.
Though students learnt some basic things about the environment in school, it was necessary to include EPA in the curriculum to ensure that students were more equipped with knowledge about the Agency, he said.
“We are still working on including the EPA in the curriculum. We want to come out with more educational materials like, “Nii Noi the Sanitation Officer” to help educate students on keeping the environment clean,” Mr Addo-Okyireh said.
The responsibility of managing and keeping the environment safe from all forms of destruction, he noted, rested on the shoulders of every individual and institution in the country.
He applauded the contestants for the seriousness attached to the preparation towards the competition and urged them to put into practice what they had learned about the EPA and the environment to keep the environment safe.
Mr Godfried Ofoe Caesar, the Eastern Regional School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator, commended the EPA for initiating a programme, which supports the fourth thematic area of the SHEP.
The fourth objective of SHEP is to ensure a safe and healthy school environment for students, hence the distribution of the book; Nii Noi the Sanitation Officer, highlighted the fourth theme.
Mr Caesar advised students to join the health clubs in their schools to be updated with knowledge on healthy living to become agents of change in their societies.
GNA