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  NEA website news release 15 Nov 05
Grass Is Greener On The Champions' Side
There is a saying that goes like this: "we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors - we borrow it from our children". Now, with our guidance, our children are being taught to sort out for themselves how to preserve their fragile inheritance.

Singapore's pioneer batch of Environment Champions will be recognised for their outstanding efforts over the year, at this year's Clean & Green Week 2005 Schools Carnival.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze badges will be presented to the 130 most outstanding Environment Champions in various Primary and Secondary schools, out of the trained 1,228 * Environment Champions in the nation.

There is now at least one EC in each school, essentially empowered to save our environment by going green, while persuading others to cross over to the green side.

Selected to bring the environmental message back to their schools and peers, these budding young environmentalists have developed their own methods to best convey the message by spearheading environmental initiatives and projects in their school.

The ECs' type of projects and their level of involvement in them formed the basis of the award criteria.

A classic example of an EC-initiated project would be the Green Earth Club set up by a group of Environment Champions from Raffles Institution.

Under the supervision of their teachers-in-charge, and with training, materials, and guidance provided by the National Environment Agency, ECs also present at school assemblies to spread the message. The EC programme began in October 2004, and this is the first round of awards. Students bring the environmental message beyond their school borders

A new nationwide community-oriented programme to be launched at Clean & Green Week (CGW) Schools Carnival 2005 will see primary and secondary school students move beyond their school boundaries into the neighbourhood, armed with the resource conservation environmentalist tenet: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Students will endeavour to shore up support among neighbourhood residents to take environmental action. Students will begin by initiating a waste reduction and recycling movement in their respective schools before taking the message out to the public.

A highlight of this year's Schools Carnival, held on Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 November, is the inaugural Recycling Outreach Programme (See Annex A), a community involvement programme (CIP) initiated by the National Environment Agency (NEA), which begins with two pilot schools, Dunman Secondary School and Holy Innocents Primary School. Students can clock up CIP hours – a curriculum requirement – through participation in this programme.

The two schools have organised exhibitions and activities to reach out to their school community and their neighbouring residents to heighten public awareness and increase involvement in their cause.

Launched by the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, the two-day long Clean & Green Week (CGW) Schools Carnival 2005 is a national platform to feature environmental projects, competitions and activities that were held during the year at the educational institutions. "Adopt-a-School" programme grows

Another important initiative that continues this year is the "Adopt-a-School" programme inaugurated in 2004. This Programme encourages corporations and their staff to join efforts with students to take ownership of the environment through the development of joint projects.

New project highlights under the "Adopt-a-School" scheme this year include The Weather Study by a team from North View Primary School in partnership with Senoko Power and NEA's Metereological Services Division. The Weather Study lets students use an advanced data logger to forecast potential hazardous conditions, for which a Haze Emergency Drill was developed by the students to encourage healthy habits in such conditions. Their motivation was to promote an awareness of the danger and causes of haze, with a happy side effect: the school administrator also uses the Weather Study readings to anticipate the weather and facilitate planning of school activities.

Another new highlight is the Environment Friendly Robot, designed and built by a team from Nanyang Primary School, in partnership with Zap Piling Pte Ltd. It is an automated robot that clears litter in its path via an inbuilt sensor, while manoeuvring around obstacles. Their motivation was to make their school cleaners' job easier by having the robot sweep up scattered bits of litter as well as to help keep their school's environment clean. The 3P approach soars: Schools join NEA to organise environmental competitions

To further enhance on environmental ownership, more schools are partnering NEA to co-organise environmental competitions. This year, we have Marsiling Secondary School, Woodgrove Secondary School and Raffles Institution taking a lead to organise nation-wide competitions such as Solar City Competition, aRRRt from urban Waste Sculpture Competition and The Green Game. Song, dance, fashion, and carnival activities to learn from

Students visiting the carnival can also look forward to a range of interactive activities to help them learn how they can take on greater ownership of the environment. These include The Green Game competition and other environmental games, stage performances, and a host of fun and discovery activities for preschoolers in the Wonderland.

Students attending the carnival on 15 November will also be entertained by the Environmental Song & Dance and Fashion Show Finals. On 16 November, there will be a Preschool Dance Competition where young children learn about environmental ownership through fun and discovery.

The growing participation and enterprise of teachers, students and corporations involved in this year's Schools Carnival is encouraging. Increasingly, the young are getting better acquainted with environmental issues and the need for a sustainable environment. 20. Mr Ng Meng Hiong, Head of NEA's Education & Partnership Department, said, "It is important that a sense of responsibility towards the environment is instilled in the young as the next generation plays a crucial part in maintaining the long-term well-being of our environment. I am glad to see the programmes of the Schools Carnival reaching out to members of the community, and hope we will all integrate our efforts to keep Singapore clean and green."

This year's School Carnival is strongly supported by the 3P (People, Public, Private) sectors. The keen participation by all in bringing the carnival to students is an encouraging sign of growing environmental ownership in our community.
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