FOR a solid education to be acquired and truly engraved in the mind-set of an individual or group and in order to develop lifelong habits, the knowledge must be given from a young age on a continuous and regular basis using a variety of teaching methods. This theory applies to environmental education as well. Environmentalists have a tumultuous task at their hands for the society in the Kingdom to become averse to littering, waste accumulation, and over consumption of vital resources and for the society to have a collective understanding of the detrimental effects of such behaviors. Not many people see the link between what we are doing to our environment and how this will affect our lives. A group of interesting, active, intelligent, and dedicated women decided to whole-heartedly take on this challenging task of educating school students on environmental issues. “We started out as a handful of women who were interested in the environment. We met twice a month, read a lot, researched, and interviewed experts in the field. We educated ourselves, children and families, and then decided to expand to society. In 2006 we established Al-Nabta (which means plant), a non-profit organization aimed at developing structured and sustainable environmental programs in Saudi Arabia's schools,” said Sawsan Alim, who co-founded Al-Nabta along with Anwaar Abulkhair. “Due to the current situation of environmental deterioration, our country is in grave need of such programs to be incorporated in the general curriculum of government and private schools. There are no official and mandatory environmental awareness programs taught on a continuous basis to school students. Some organizations or schools may organize a one day event, such as Earth Day where students engage in environmentally friendly activities once a year, but it rarely goes beyond that,” said Alim. “Consider that 90% of natural disasters that occur worldwide are directly caused by human behavior. That number is mind-boggling. And consider another fact, that 65% of the Kingdom's population is under the age of 18. So if behavioral change is going to take place in our society, we need to target the younger population. That is where Al-Nabta comes in,” added Alim. First of all, the women at Al-Nabta have written and designed a complete and age appropriate environmental education school curriculum for grades 1 up to 6. The whole package comes with a colorful and attractive student's book, short documentary films, flash cards, visual aids, materials for fun activities and games, along with a teacher's manual that are all offered free of charge to any school that wishes to adopt this program. A representative from Al-Nabta trains the teachers on how to use the educational kit and how to pass on the message to children of why and how to protect our environment. They learned from academics, researchers, and businessmen in this field, and all the literature, books, and illustrations were collected and created locally, here in Jeddah by Saudi women. “Our goal is not to simply go into the classroom and tell children to recycle. We want to build awareness and implant the values that will then lead to behavioral change. Our lesson plans show children the answers to these important questions: ‘Why should I recycle?'— ‘What happens if I do not recycle?'— ‘Where does our waste go if it is not recycled?' — ‘How does it affect me and my city?' We want the students to make the decision themselves. We have a vision that the students will be leaders and they will be the agents of change in our society,” added Alim. Several schools were very impressed by the programs and they have introduced the lessons into the school's already existing schedule. Among the schools that implemented Al-Nabta's courses are: Dar Al-Fikr, My Little House, Children's Garden School, Ambassadors School, Dar Al-Hanan, Prince Sultan Complex for Boys, and a number of government schools in South/Eastern Jeddah. Some schools that offer summer camps for their students also taught Al-Nabta's curriculum of environmental education during the summer. “Our programs are highly interactive and they stimulate the child's thinking in a variety of ways. Each year, as the student progresses through elementary grades, the concepts taught and the circle of influence that the child focuses on grow and expand. In first grade the lessons center on caring for the child's body, next year the home, then school, city, country, and finally the world,” said Loolwah Edris, educational teacher trainer at Al-Nabta. “One workshop shows children a film on how rice is grown, harvested, packed, and shipped from distant Asian countries, and the importance of not wasting food. In Saudi Arabia, 60% of the imported rice ends up to be thrown away as waste. Students propose solutions on how we can preserve this nutritional staple that we rely on and that families in other countries work so hard to produce,” said Edris. “We have heard astounding, positive feedback from the schools which have implemented our programs. The students commonly tell teachers that they went home after the lesson and told their parents, siblings, friends, and neighbors about what they learned. The program has opened up the children's eyes to things in their surroundings that they had not previously noticed. For example, one student who had attended a workshop on water conservation noticed that there was a dripping tap in the school bathroom. The girl informed her teachers and janitor and when the next day the tap was still leaking, she went to the principal's office and asked her to please do something about it because it was a waste of precious water. Indeed she kept on insisting until it was finally repaired. The girl cared enough and took on the responsibility of changing things,” added Edris. The team at Al-Nabta believes in guaranteeing a better future for this nation's children. To meet the founders of Al-Nabta, spend a fun-filled day with your children as they learn, play, and participate in activities that aim to foster environmental protection, visit the Earth Day Event that Al-Nabta is organizing here in Jeddah on the17th and 18th of April. For more information about this group or the event you can check out their Facebook page: Alnabta.
