World Environment Day is celebrated annually during the month of June. The day has grown to become one of the main vehicles through which nations stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and encourage political attention and action. The awareness is aimed at hundreds of thousands of people from schools, churches, industries and NGOs and involves educational activities which highlight the plight of the world’s environment and natural resources.
Each year, Sedibeng District Municipality partners with Indalo Yethu to celebrate World Environment Day and this year it was hosted by the Emmanuel Primary School in Sharpeville. This year’s programme was celebrated through a Cleaning Campaign as well as Tree Planting, in an effort to keep open spaces clean and green.
The reason for this year’s celebration being held at a school was to launch the Eco-Schools programme which is sub-component within the Street & Clean programme started by Indalo Yethu. This programme was initiated by the Sedibeng District Municipality. This new Eco-Schools concept will be taken forward and introduced to other schools within the district.
The programme aims to teach kids at an early age about the importance of caring for their environment. This can be done through various ways one of which is to teach them to re-cycle.
Emfuleni Municipality provided trucks and equipment for the clearing operation. Indalo Yethu brought in their cleaning teams to help clean up around the school. Representatives from various organisations and government departments rolled-up their sleeves and joined in the cleaning campaign.
Ms Sandisiwe Vilakazi from Indalo Yethu also took part in educating the learners about the importance of the clean campaign and the planting of trees. The school was given specially marked re-cycling rubbish bins. Learners also participated in several performance activities as their parents looked on. The event was attended by councillors, representatives from the Sedibeng District Municipality; Emfuleni Local Municipality; Rand Water and the Dept of Education.
