Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) today awarded prizes totalling AED 48,000 to students and teachers from twelve local schools for their sterling conservation efforts. The schools were responding to DEWA’s invitation to participate in their latest initiative ‘Conservation for a Better Future’. The aim of the awards scheme was to educate both Arabic and for the first time English speaking students, about saving water and conserving energy at school as well as at home.
Presenting the prizes, HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, DEWA’s Managing Director and CEO, said: “Children are never too young to learn about preserving our precious natural resources, we need to develop the eco warriors of tomorrow by instilling a culture of conservation today. Conservation is at the heart of DEWA’s corporate social responsibility programme and I am sure that this initiative will have a profound impact on the students.”
The top performing schools decorated at the Grand Hyatt earlier today were:
From the secondary category:
1- Maryah Al Qubtiyah School
2- Hamdan Bin Rashid School
3- Sukainah Bint Al Hussein School
From the preliminary category:
1- Lateefah Bint Humeidan School
2- Al Sa’eediah School
3- Omm Suqiem School
From the elementary category:
1- Salma Al Ansariah School
2- Al Nahda School
3- Al Qiyam Al Nomoothajiah School
From the kindergarten group:
1- Al Bara’a Nursery
2- Al Shurooq Nursery
3- Al Manhal Nursery
In addition to these, DEWA added another category for the distinguished teams, of which four schools have won: Asma Bint No’man School, Sarah Elementary School, Al Sufooh School and Sufayya Al Qurashiya School.
Mr. Jaafar Al Fardan, Principle of Al Sa’eediah School said, “Conservation is a serious issue and DEWA must be congratulated for their creative projects in this regard. It is imperative that children are made aware of water and energy saving issues and by creating a competitive element, all schools have risen to the challenge, but most importantly the key messages have been absorbed.”
Split into four age groups, kindergarten, elementary, intermediate and secondary, each school had to nominate two coordinators from their teaching or administration staff. To qualify for the awards, schools had to complete a comprehensive report on ten key criteria, with an additional four special criteria for extracurricular projects. Out of a total of 1,000 points, schools gained marks for addressing issues such as, reducing consumption, organising events and conducting lectures to raise awareness about conservation and safety, educational field trips, designing educational literature and integrating key conservation messages with religion, sociology and science.
Amal Koshak, Deputy Manager, Demand Management at DEWA, commented, “In total, we invited 280 Arabic and English speaking schools to participate. The response was overwhelming and the standards exceptional. It was a very difficult task to pick out just twelve winners all of the students deserved a prize for their creativity and sheer enthusiasm.”
