The Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Sasol and the Friends of the Environment Centre (FEC) have announced the launch of the sixth edition of the Qatar e-Nature Schools Contest. 
The objective is to encourage students to discover Qatar’s rich nature, learn more about the environmental diversity in the country, and gain knowledge in a fun, interactive way.
The contest covers all primary schools across Qatar, with each participating school contesting through a three-member team formed from primary 4, primary 5 and primary 6.
Taking place between December and April, the contest consists of four main stages. The first is the preparation stage, during which schools hold internal contests to form teams. This is followed by the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the finals. Four winning teams will be honoured in an award ceremony, where they will receive special trophies and vouchers, with the vouchers for the first winners reaching up to QR9,000. 
During the various stages of the competition, students will answer live questions to gain points in a competitive, entertaining and educational atmosphere. Questions will cover various topics such as flora, birds, insects, reptiles, mammals, fish and nature reserves in Qatar based on information in the Qatar e-Nature application and its bilingual website.
Fatima al-Obaidli, head of programmes and activities at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said: “The aim of the Qatar e-Nature contest is in line with the objectives of the ministry and the state vision; namely, to educate the youth and use technology in the education process.” 
Frahood al-Hajiri, FEC director, said: “Qatar’s environment has a lot to offer and preserve, and the society needs to be aware of the importance of the country’s nature. From day one, we believed in Qatar e-Nature’s ability to promote this message and entrench environmental values.”
Qatar e-Nature is the first smartphone application of its kind, highlighting the country’s rich environmental diversity and offering detailed information about the country’s flora, birds, insects, mammals, reptiles, marine life and nature reserves. Sasol co-operated with FEC to develop this application in Arabic and English with a view to promoting sustainable development.