Students performing on stage using unique musical instruments. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil
More school visits will be conducted to expand the Qatar e-Nature programme as part of raising environmental awareness in the country, Sasol president Marjo Louw has said.
“We want to make the Qatar e-Nature mobile application comprehensive by including more information besides the existing three groups: plants, insects and birds,” he explained.
By the end of this year, Sasol will have an app with all of nature or live nature such as plants, insects, birds, mammals, reptiles and marine life fall on one reference or material.
A total of 22 students from different schools in the country won prizes in the Qatar e-Nature schools contest which saw 5,500 participants.
The contest, conducted by Friends of the Environment (FEC) and Sasol, aimed to increase environmental awareness among students, while urging them to explore more about Qatar’s natural diversity.
Louw noted that in many countries where these animals or plants existed, apps were developed only for birds or a few mammals and plants.
Sasol and Friends of the Environment (FEC), a leading Qatari NGO, are planning to organise another school competition later this year “or probably a longer period to get more people to be involved”.
Louw said: “The whole idea is to raise environmental awareness.”
About tapping other sectors or groups, he believed that the programme should start with the youngsters since one of the biggest problems they faced was to get children interested in nature.
He cited a report recently saying that there was a 100% penetration of mobile phones in the country and most of these electronic devices were smartphones and tablets.
“They use it for anything but they don’t look at nature. And this is their easiest way to have reference of nature.”
FEC chairman Dr Saif Ali al-Hajari echoed Louw statements, saying that electronic tools such as mobile applications worked effectively with students, especially in raising their interest to learn about environment.
“We have better solutions to our challenges. These tools work very well with the new generation because youngsters today are more attached to technology,” he explained.
The next programme will focus on naming more mammals and other wildlife in Qatar.
He stressed the importance of inculcating positive values as well as broadening the knowledge of children, in protecting and preserving the environment through such initiative.
Al-Hajari urged people to load the application on their smartphones and other gadgets to benefit from the programme. He said the application would regularly be improved to be attractive and informative.
“We only visited about 50% of all the schools in Qatar. “We will visit many schools next year and we hope that more students will participate,” he added.
BELOW:
Qatar e-Nature grand winner Saoud Hassan Mahdi al-Haddad from the Al Wafaa Model Independent School for Boys with Louw, Dr al-Hajari, ambassador Cachalia and a senior official from Sasol.
