- Alfred Fornah / Alhassan Sesay
INNOVATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOLS PROJECT UNDERWAY
Today saw pupils from ten schools across the Western rural district collect composting bins for an innovative climate change and environmental management pilot project funded by the UK based charity, the Sierra Leone Poverty Alleviation Charity Trust (SALPACT), delivered by partners Sierra Leone School Green Club (SLSGC) and Sierra Leone Society 4 Climate Change Communication (S4CCC).
Using these large waste collection bins, pupils will learn about the importance of waste collection and sorting, and the impact of poor waste management on their communities and the environment. Taking place at the Freetown Teachers College Campus in Jui, the ten schools - Rising Academy, Joy, REC, May Ford, Kellys Rural Secondary Schools, FTC Practising School, Jui and Portee Vocational Institutes and Edest Academy - collected their kit.
SALPACT’s funding is also supporting these ten pilot schools to create school farms, where pupils can learn to grow commercial crops and trees and become Sierra Leone’s farmers of the future.
Speaking about the project, Alfred Fornah, the Founder of Society 4 Climate Change Communication, explained that the distribution of the waste collection bins is a key component of the SALPACT partnership Climate Change Mitigation and Capacity Building Project, aimed at improving environmental management in schools and communities in the western rural area of Sierra Leone.
“The waste collection bins will help the 10 targeted schools put in place a fully operational waste management system recycling plastics within their compounds and also promote environmentally friendly lifestyles, so that pupils can protect their environment and mitigate the impact of climate change.“
Daniel Conteh, Program Manager of SLSGC stressed the need for proper waste management and environmental sanitation in Schools. He noted that the project will help pupils to take a leading role in environmental management practice.
“With skills gained in this program you can serve as influencers and environmental Ambassadors to spread the word of environmental protection in your various communities."
Sierra Leone School Green Club founder, Alhassan Sesay demonstrated to the pupils how to use the bins, emphasizing that waste should be sorted and separated accordingly. He explained that the collected waste paper and leaves can be used as compost after decomposing. This compost can then be added to the farming soil to enrich its quality once the agricultural component of the project starts and the waste plastics will be collected from the schools for recycling.
Speaking from the UK about the distribution of the composting bins, the chairman of the Sierra Leone Poverty Alleviation Charity Trust (SALPCT), Mr Abdul Rashid Thomas, said that Trustees of SALPACT are:
"We are glad to fund such an innovative environmental management project, which will help pupils tackle the growing problem of waste management in Sierra Leone.
Above all, we look forward to each school starting their own school farm where they can grow commercial trees and crops. These children are the farmers of the future.”
Speaking on behalf of the participating schools, Mohamed Fofanah, a pupil at the Kellys Rural Agricultural Secondary School, thanked SLSGC, S4CCC and SALPACT for this laudable gesture and promised to use the bins for their intended purpose.
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