M&CC takes environmental programme to schools

Nov 02, 2010 News

In recognition of the fact that there is an urgent need for citizens to aid the municipality’s effort to keep the city clean, a programme has been introduced in the school system.
Under the auspices of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown, the programme which will take on the form of an environmental competition will see primary school pupils in Georgetown schools being engaged in activities geared at amplifying their environmental awareness.
The venture was launched last week at the Smith’s Memorial Primary School, according to Deputy Public Relations Officer, Debra Lewis. According to Lewis, the programme was launched under the theme “Healthy environment, healthy children.
The programme will continue until the last Friday of this month. Schools will be judged on litter-free environment, presence of refuse receptacles, clean walls, floors and ceilings, drains free from obstruction, yards free from bush weeds and long grass and sanitary blocks free from litter and which are in a good state.
The focus of the programme, Lewis disclosed, is to help children to inculcate good environmental practices and to be proactive on environmental issues. The primary schools in the Georgetown district would be judged over a six-week period. Environmental Health Officers would visit the school routinely and documentation would be made of the state of the school environment. At the end of the six-week period, prizes would be awarded for the best kept and most improved schools.
Lewis explained that the municipality thought it best to refocus the attention on the school children because of the wider environmental problem in some communities.
The municipality has on repeated occasions highlighted the importance for the council to continually urge citizens to desist from littering the environment. He pointed out that while the municipality is mandated to keep the city in an acceptable state the onus is still on citizens to keep their environment clean thus the need for them to be more responsible in their actions.
During the latter part of last year, the municipality was forced to engage an anti-littering campaign to address what was described as an ‘embedded culture’ practiced by citizens.
Public Relations Officer, Royston King, had noted that the common culture must desist if the municipality is to effectively maintain the drainage system of the city.
He articulated that citizens should do everything practicable to keep the city clean and tidy.
“Unless citizens see the health of the environment as a personal responsibility the council would be hard pressed to push ahead with other developmental works,”King stressed.
On a regular basis the municipality engineer’s department is forced to address the excessive use of plastic and styrofoam by consumers which continually serve to block the city’s drainage system.
For this reason, it was highlighted that in order to achieve any goal set out by the municipality as it relates to anti-littering, efforts must first be made to explore the relevance of culture in the way citizens treat and care for the environment.
“It is important that council exploit the positives of our different cultures to persuade citizens to do the right thing and protect the environment,” King urged.

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M&CC takes environmental programme to schools

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