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Victoria Mindova

Cleaning the coastline, care for the maintenance of biodiversity and culture of environmental protection become an essential part of the educational system in Greece. The two key ministries, of education and environment, are developing a common project that aims to increase children's attention to issues related to environmental protection. There are similar classes in the Greek educational system already but the new programme will transform theoretical knowledge into practical skills.

Representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Energy explain to GRReporter that exploring regional biodiversity, bringing up respect for natural resources and relevant culture as well as caring for their protection are the foundation of their efforts. Currently, the ministries are drawing up separate programmes for extracurricular activities in seven major regions of the country. The educational programmes will be related to the characteristics of each region and will enable the pupils to improve the environmental conditions in which they develop.

Extracurricular activities will include trips to local farms, forest areas and coasts, where the children will have practical exercises. These will include caring for animals, planting crops and wild plants, waste removal from coastal areas and rivers.

Planting of forest areas affected by summer fires and cleaning of coastlines are already a common practice for some schools. Even the official government bodies recognize that such initiatives still lie mainly on the shoulders of enthusiastic teachers or private organizations. The Greek government is now trying to introduce the sense of responsibility in children at an earlier age in order to protect the surrounding nature.

In addition to practical training and field activities, investments in the construction of green schools are another example of environmentally- friendly living for pupils. There have been "green" schools with minimum power consumption in the area of ​​Thessaloniki and Crete for several years already. The pupils there learn from an early age the importance of energy saving as a measure to protect the environment.

The seventh secondary school in Piraeus covers 100% of its needs from alternative energy sources and even sells some of the electricity to the Public Power Corporation (DEI). There are 20kw solar collectors installed on the roof of the school and the system prevents the release of 28.5 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. The director of the school, Teano Gounela, states that this is the best practical lesson that children can get about the meaning of the development and use of alternative methods for the production of clean electricity.