Environmental School Campaign 2014

The Earth Club of North South University organised the grand finale of its “Environmental School Campaign 2014” on August 22, 2014 at the university's Bashundhara campus. The two-month long event included various fun activities to spread awareness about environmental issues.

The campaign began back in April and culminated in June. Members of the Earth Club visited ten different schools in Dhaka -- namely A.G. Church School, Viqarunnesa Noon School, Don Bosco International School, RAJUK Uttara Model School and College, Uttara Girls' High School, School of Hope, International School Bangladesh, Oxford International School, Milestone School and Park International School -- and engaged the students in activities while sharing knowledge about the environment at the same time.

On the day of the grand finale, winners from each school accompanied by their parents were welcomed at NSU. As the parents waited in the Recreation Center, their wards competed in the final stages which involved an art competition for students below the fourth grade, origami from recyclable materials for fifth graders and an environment related speech competition for students of grade six and above.

The three rooms in which these contests were held were abuzz with young minds showing their creativity and expressing their concerns for the environment. The youngest ones drew and coloured away what they thought were destroying our surroundings, based on the themes “Clean Dhaka, Green Dhaka” and “Environmental problems we face”. In the next room, children spent time using paper, straw, strings and other reusable materials to do craftwork.

The senior-most of the bunch were in another room, where they took the podium and spent a good five minutes each delivering a speech on issues like deforestation, sea water level rise, global warming, animal extinction and many more. All the participants put on good effort with their research-based speeches.

The judges for the three competitions were all alumni members of the Earth Club. Faisal Kabir, CEO, Seomru International Ltd; Sayam U Chowdhury, Principal Investigator, Bangladesh Spoon-billed Sandpiper Conservation Project; Hassan Arif Rahman, Principal Investigator & Team Leader, Bangladesh Wildcat Research Initiative and Sumaiya Firoze, Natural Resource Management Specialist of USAID Bangladesh served as the jury members and spent time with the participants, listening to their presentations and commending the art and craftwork.
“Children are catalysts. They are the future leaders of the society and if they can learn so much about the environment as to convince their parents to be more aware about it, we'll know we're doing it right. We want to send the message to their hearts,” said Md. Jakariya, Ph.D., the faculty advisor of the Earth Club.
The prize giving ceremony followed in the beautifully decorated Recreation Center where the guests were handed out the publication of the club, Green Reflections. Youth's Voice Foundation also presented the students with 200 copies made from recycled papers.

The event was graced by Professor Amin Sarkar, Ph.D., the Vice Chancellor of North South University. In his speech, he mentioned the importance of the environment and how human and plants have a symbiotic relationship. He urged the parents and students alike to be more careful towards the risks and take necessary steps to combat them.

S.M. Nazmul Ahsan, Deputy Manager (CSR) of Epyllion Group was present as special guest. He praised Earth Club's initiative as a pioneer in the field. He also welcomed other clubs and organisations to come forward with more sustainable projects for the environment.

Lastly, medals were awarded to the winners of the competitions. Mahidur Rahman of School of Hope, Samir Tasnim of RAJUK Uttara Model School and College and S Ridwan of Don Bosco International School won the top prizes in the art, origami and environment related speech competitions respectively.

The curtain fell on one of the biggest events organised by the Earth Club, who were supported by its members and volunteers from HURDCO International School, with the hope of carrying on with its wonderful work for the environment.

The campaign was sponsored by Sailor, a concern of Epyllion Group and Janata Bank. SHOUT was the English Print Media Partner of the event.