The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) on Friday said it concluded a two weeks environmental training for over 100 children to make them environment conservation ambassadors.
A statement by Mr Oladapo Soneye, NCF’s spokesman said, in Lagos, that the training was held virtually and was carried out through its Environmental Education Unit.
Soneye said the two weeks open free virtual summer school was for children aged between five years and 17 years and held from August 1 to August 20.
“The purpose of the virtual school was to engage the children and teenagers during the lockdown in environmental education and prepare them as ambassadors for environmental conservation. Since its inception, NCF has been keen on environmental education for school children up to tertiary institution level. This has necessitated the establishment of ‘Conservation Clubs’ in schools and ‘Bird Clubs’ in communities across the nation”.
According to the statement, Mrs Bidemi Balogun, Head Environmental Education, stressed the need to embrace digital learning.
She said challenges of COVID-19 showed that learning is not restricted to physical classroom for children.
“The NCF Eco Summer School was set up in continuation of the conservation club activities. The idea came up as a result of the pandemic that has placed restriction on large gatherings, especially for children. The two weeks was fun for the children while their participation was highly encouraging and impressive”.
According to the officer, the children had exciting activities with them as materials were made available to aid continual learning.
“We were able to touch on most aspects of the environment”
The foundation further stated that, the children expressed happiness about the training as Master Ohigbai Aigbavboa, 12, remarked that the training gave him better understanding of arts and craft.
“I have learnt the importance of recycling, bird watching, butterfly and biodiversity. I want to say a big thank you to NCF Eco Summer School for the services they provided to us all”.
Another participant, 10-year-old Moduroti Akinola was quoted as saying she had a great time learning about the ecosystem.
“The most interesting part of it is the arts and craft. I also enjoyed the virtual trip and I look forward to being on the canopy walk soon”.
The NCF spokesman stated that birdwatching, butterfly collection, biodiversity and green cooking, as well as arts and craft, were some of the aspects of the environment that the participants were exposed to.
He said that Whatsapp and Google Classroom platforms were also used to engage the participants.
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