The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has introduced the “Nature Club” module under its European Union Resilient Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) project aimed at fighting against climate change.
Membership of the club is opened to school children in selected basic schools in the region.
The clubs are expected to help instill the spirit of good environmental practices among the school children to make them agents of climate change in the long run.
The schools are: the Doodiyiri Islamic Basic School in the Wa Municipality; Samanbo D/A Basic School in the Wa West District; Gbieri Baptist Basic School in the Lawra Municipality; Numbeg Basic School in the Jirapa Municipality and Nadowli Model and St. Paul’s R/C Basic Schools in the Nadowli-Kaleo District.
Speaking at the launch of the club at the Doodiyiri Islamic Basic School, Mr Matthias Berthold, the Project Manager of the REACH Project, indicated that the younger generation would bear the consequences of the poor environmental practices in the future hence the need to empower them to help reverse the trend.
“Young people are among the most impacted by climate change and must be part of the solutions and influence the response,” he observed.
According to him, available information from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration indicated that “the Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2020 was the warmest.”
He attributed the situation to deforestation, energy extraction from fossil fuels, and other industrial and domestic practices such as agriculture among others.
Mr Berthold said the Nature Clubs would be extended to more schools in the region as part of efforts to arrest behaviours and practices that had threatened the environment with the younger generation exposed to the dire impact of those behaviours and practices.
“I am highly convinced that through the Nature Clubs, good practices to protect the environment will be strengthened and collective ways of preserving and valuing nature will be reinforced”, he added.
Mr Razak Z. Abdul-Korah, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, said the move by GIZ to instill environmental discipline among the school children was a welcome news, which he said would help contribute to their holistic development.
He explained that the Ghana Education Service was not focused on only academic knowledge but also value extra-curricular activities, which would help equip the children with appropriate skills, values and practices as well as build their confidence and competence levels.
“I earnestly believe through the support and expertise of the coaches of the clubs, pupils will learn to understand, appreciate and protect the environment through positive practices”, Mr Abdul-Korah said.
Madam Sophia Dimah Nandzo, the Wa Municipal Director of Education, observed that most issues of climate change were attitudinal and expressed the hope that the clubs would help change the attitudes of the children towards matters of climate change.
By Philip Tengzu, GNA
