Divisional rounds of JCC wraps up in Dhaka

The second edition of Junior Climate Champions, a joint initiative of HSBC and The Daily Star kicked off on July 21 this year with a view to groom a climate conscious generation who would work on awareness building and adaptation measures in the future.

Photo: Star

The secondary school based competition was open for students of classes VI to X.

The goal of the environment related campaign is to inspire youngsters to actively participate in learning, awareness building, prevention and mitigation efforts regarding climate challenges. Divided into two categories -- junior (classes VI to VIII) and senior (classes IX and X) -- the contest featured quiz, poster designing and painting, extempore speech and environment-related projects.

Following the registration and event activation in more than 100 schools in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions, the divisional finale of the competition began on September 12 in Chittagong.
Approximately 1,500 participants from 60 educational institutions gathered at Chittagong Collegiate School premises in the morning for the competition. Of the participants, 40 students (10 from each area of contest), qualified and received green cards for taking part in the national round, scheduled to be held on October 31 in Dhaka.

The next divisional finale was held in Sylhet on September 19. Students started gathering at Scholarshome School and College in the city's Shahi Eidgah area from the morning to take part in the day-long event. The school premises wore a festive look with colourful decorations and over 700 curious participants.
A total of 41 students from Sylhet division were given green cards to take part in the national round of the contest. Professor Md. Saleh Uddin, Vice Chancellor of Metropolitan University, was present at the ceremony as chief guest while Brigadier General (Retd) Jubayer Siddique, Principal of Scholarshome, and Professor Dr. Jahir Bin Alam, Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, were the special guests. Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher, The Daily Star and Abdullah Al Jubayer, Manager, Corporate Sustainability, HSBC attended the programme as representatives of their respective organisations.

After the successful completion of its first and second divisional finales in Chittagong and Sylhet, the divisional rounds of JCC 2014 wrapped in Dhaka on September 26. The Dhaka Divisional Finale was held at the Dhaka Residential Model College premises.

A total of 80 students qualified in Dhaka division, winning green tickets to take part in the national round of the contest. This was the last of the three divisional rounds after Chittagong and Sylhet. The 162 winners will compete in the finale.

Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher, The Daily Star; Talukder Noman Anwar, Country Head of Corporate Communication, HSBC; Shahriar Shaheed, Manager of Business Development and Marketing, The Daily Star and Abdullah Al Jubayer, Manager of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC attended the programme on behalf of their respective organisations.

Dr. Ahsan Uddin, Executive Director of Centre for Global Change and Enam Ul Haque, Founder of Bird Club, Bangladesh were present at the programme as special guests.

The project was originally launched on July 21, 2013. In line with the success of previous year, the second season of Junior Climate Champions was launched on July 21, 2014.