The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), has completed a two -week virtual summer school for children and teenagers between ages 5 to 17 .
The free -to -attend programme which was organised by the Education unit of the Foundation sought to engage children and teenagers during the lockdown in environmental education and prepare them as ambassadors for environmental conservation.
Speaking, Head of Environmental Education,Mrs. Bidemi Balogun, averred that learning is not restricted to physical classroom urging all to embrace the new normal going forward.
“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 gathering especially children. The 2 weeks have been fun with the children, their participation was highly encouraging and impressive.
“We had exciting activities with them. Some of the materials are available for them to go over to aid continual learning. We were able to touch on most aspects of the environment.”
Sharing his experience through telephone interview, 12 years old Ohigbai Aigbavboa said, “My experience in this summer school has been very fantastic, now I have become much better in arts & crafts. 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 this gesture”
Also sharing her experience, 10 year- old Moduroti Akinola said “The NCF Eco Summer School was a very interesting 2 weeks. I had a great time learning about the ecosystem. The most interesting part of it was the arts and craft. I also enjoyed the virtual trip. I look forward to being on the canopy walk soon. Thank you NCF for the great experience.”
Birdwatching, butterfly collection, biodiversity, green cooking and arts & craft and more were some of the aspects of the environment that the over 100 participants were exposed to.
The exercise held via Whatsapp and Google
platforms.
NCF since its inception has been keen on environmental education for school children up to tertiary institutions level. This has necessitated the establishment of Conservation Clubs in schools and Bird Clubs in communities across the nation.