Today 92 schools from around Malta and Gozo were awarded for their achievements within BirdLife Malta’s Dinja Waħda environmental education programme. Last scholastic year was one of the most participative years in the programme’s 20 year history, covering over 80% of Malta’s primary schools.
More than half of the schools participating in the programme received the Gold Award for excellent achievements in environmental education, demonstrating that their school is dedicated to engaging their students with Maltese nature and what they can do to help to look after it.
Mark Sultana, newly appointed CEO of BirdLife Malta appealed to the children in his welcome address:
“Find time to go out in the countryside! There’s nothing better than a walk in the countryside, where you get to know nature better.”
He said that during the past scholastic year, more than 5,000 students had visited BirdLife Malta’s nature reserves.
In her speech, Diane Spiteri, Acting Head of the European Commission Representation in Malta, showed her satisfaction that with the help of the Representation given to BirdLife Malta, much is being achieved in the environmental education sector.
The Dinja Waħda programme encourages outdoor activities both in school grounds and through educational visits to Malta’s nature reserves, to help to build a connection with nature. Last scholastic year saw a record of number of school visits to the reserves and also an expansion of the programme to include secondary schools.
Dinja Waħda is the biggest environmental education programme in Malta, run by BirdLife Malta in collaboration with the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education (DQSE) and supported by the European Commission Representation in Malta.
