- UAE-wide competition celebrates tenth year of encouraging environmental activism in school students
- More than 250,000 students, 6,000 teachers and 400 schools expected to be involved
- BEEAH Group renews partnership with Duracell to conduct 2nd edition of “The Great Battery Challenge”, after collecting close to 2 tonnes of used batteries from schools last year
Sharjah, September 10, 2019: BEEAH Group, the Middle East’s sustainability pioneer, has announced that registration is now open for the new cycle of interschool competitions, held under its environmental education initiative, the BEEAH Group School of Environment. The competitions will challenge students of all ages to address environmental concerns, and raise awareness, in line with the BSOE’s aim of creating a greener generation in the UAE.
Now in their tenth and seventh editions respectively, the Environmental Excellence School Award (EESA) and Inter School Recycling Competition (ISRC) are signature competitions of the BEEAH Group School of Environment (BSOE), a unique environmental education programme developed by BEEAH Group in 2010, to inspire positive environmental behaviour from a young age.
The EESA provides students with a platform to exhibit their own creative and innovative solutions to environmental issues, and over the past ten years, the competition has been hugely successful in nurturing a proactive approach to environmental challenges and encouraging environmentally conscious activities. This year’s theme is ‘Preservation of Marine Life & Water Resources’. Submissions can be made under the categories of Best Environmental Science Experiment (Grades 3-5), Best Environmental Film (Grades 6-9), and Best Environmental Invention (Grades 10-12), as well as the newly introduced Best Environmental Storybook and Song category (KG-Grade 2). Nominations can also be made for the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award, under the Teacher and Student categories. Meanwhile, the Sharjah-based ISRC will once again encourage students to be active advocates for recycling by recognizing schools that commit to collecting the highest tonnage of recyclables during an academic year. Last year, over 327.78 tonnes were successfully collected from around 97 schools in the emirate.
Commenting on the inspiration behind the BSOE and its innovative competitions, HE Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of BEEAH Group, said, “Our purpose at BEEAH Group is to help create a green, sustainable future, and to do that we have to start with the nation’s children, who are the stakeholders of our future. This is why the BEEAH Group School of Environment (BSOE) is critical to our future success, and we are proud to witness the tenth year of the Environmental Excellence School Award (EESA) and the seventh edition of the Inter-School Recycling Competition (ISRC). We believe that programmes like the BSOE can create a greener generation that not only believes in the principles of environmental protection, but also adopts these principles as a lifestyle.”
This year also sees the return of The Great Battery Challenge (TGBC), which was launched in 2018, through a partnership between BEEAH Group, and the leading global battery manufacturer, Duracell. The first-of-its-kind competition, which aims to champion battery recycling, sustainable practices and energy saving, collected more than 100,000 batteries (almost 2 tonnes) in its first edition from more than a 100 participating schools in Sharjah and Dubai.
Speaking of the decision to partner for a second year on the initiative, Amer Afifi, General Manager for Duracell Middle East & India said: “Following the success of last year, we are proud to collaborate once again with BEEAH Group to achieve our shared sustainability goals. As an environmentally-minded corporate citizen, we appreciate that responsible waste disposal is a global imperative and are committed to demonstrating the positive impact that battery recycling can have on the environment compared to landfilling.”
He added, “Children are our future and, by establishing recycling habits at a young age, they will carry that good habit with them for life. We are confident that The Great Battery Challenge will change students’ attitudes and behaviours, transforming participating pupils into enthusiastic recycling ambassadors and influencing their family and friends in turn.”
BSOE continues to witness steady growth and expansion as the programme now reaches more than 250,000 students, 6,000 teachers and more than 400 participating schools across the UAE. The programme utilizes both online and offline learning platforms to engage with students from nursery levels to grade 12 and creates environmental awareness on multiple fronts. Other key components include interactive learning experiences by subject-matter experts through school visits, presentations and workshops that cover the emirates of Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain.
Sharing her thoughts on the progress of the competitions, Hind Al Huwaidi, Outreach Manager at BEEAH Group said, “We at BEEAH Group are proud to celebrate ten years of the EESA. Competitions like this and the ISRC have generated substantial interest and excitement in Sharjah and throughout the UAE, as students are given a platform to demonstrate their creativity, energy and unique individual outlook towards best practices in sustainability and environment protection. This is also our work philosophy; and this is what encouraged us to expand our operations to Abu Dhabi last year. We believe that the values and practices we help instill today will be the drivers for positive change in the future.”
Teachers and students can register for the competitions, from the 8th of September, on the BSOE’s online portal, www.bsoe.ae. In addition to information on the competitions, the BSOE’s website is a one-stop hub for environmental learning; offering presentations, quizzes, games, informative videos, and lesson plans on a wide range of environmental topics. New resources on battery recycling will also be added shortly to educate students on this mounting issue. To support all participating schools in their efforts and to explain the rules and criteria of the competitions, the BSOE team will be conducting comprehensive training workshops from October.
