Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) today launched the latest in a series of concerted conservation initiatives aimed at Dubai’s school children. Under the theme of ‘Conservation for a Better Future’, the awards scheme aims to educate children in both Arabic and for the first time English speaking schools, about saving water and conserving energy at school as well as at home.
Amal Koshak, Deputy Manager, Demand Management at DEWA, commented, “Last year’s event was held amongst Arabic schools only, but due to the overwhelming response, this year we have now extended our invitation to English speaking schools as well. In total, we are inviting 280 schools to participate.”
To qualify for the awards, schools must 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 will gain 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.
Khalifah Bin Fares, Director, Dubai Educational Zone said, “This award is vital to raise awareness amongst school children about saving water and electricity. DEWA have been initiating great conservation projects and we wholeheartedly support their efforts, which we hope will have a profound impact on the students.”
Running concurrently, the extracurricular competition encourages students to paint or compose poems about conservation, implement energy-saving projects at home or write a story about conserving our natural resources.
Split into four age groups, kindergarten, elementary, intermediate and secondary, each school must nominate two coordinators from their teaching or administration staff. The top ten students along with their coordinators will be honoured at a special award ceremony to be held in May. Three cash prizes for each grade totalling AED 48,000 will be gifted to the top performing schools.
“Saving water and energy should play an important role in all of our lives, especially our children’s, they are our future. We need to instill a culture of conservation now, so that they can become positive role models for the next generation and preserve our precious natural resources,” added Koshak.
