The Qur’anic Botanic Garden (QBG), the first garden in the world to exhibit all plant species mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, Hadith, and Sunnah, concluded its 2020 - 2021 Fun and Learn, Young Botanist, and Food Security educational programmes.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, QBG held its Fun and Learn programme for children between 6 and 12 years virtually through social media. Designed to teach the younger generation about plants and the environment through a social media competition, the Fun and Learn programme aims to spread awareness about environmental action and the plants mentioned in Holy Qur’an, Hadith, and Sunnah. The programme included a recycling competition, where children were asked to record a video of them recycling used agricultural tools, providing an explanation of the used tools and follow actioned steps.
Fun and Learn also included the Little Farmer and Little Narrator competitions. The Little Farmer competition asks children to video record themselves sowing a plant mentioned in the Holy Qur’an or Hadith and provide an explanation of the steps taken and tools used. Children taking part in the Little Narrator competition told stories in Classical Arabic about the plants in the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, also submitted as a video and published on social media.
As part of its Young Botanist Programme, QBG launched its 2021 Environmental Research Competition. The programme targets high school students and introduces participants to botany, methods of plant conservation and multiplication through scientific and laboratory trips, as well as hands-on experiments conducted by the students themselves.
This year witnessed the addition of the QBG Virtual Tours programme as part of the pre-existing Young Botanist Program. The virtual tours schedule included many sessions for different school types to communicate with students in Arabic and English. The tours targeted students in grade 5 to 7.
QBG’s Food Security program encourages modern agricultural practices that make investments in this sector feasible. This year’s program included virtual meetings and a series of online workshops and live interviews to introduce students to the latest expertise in the field.
QBG follows a binary cultural and practical approach to protect and preserve the environment, and promote the concept of green culture and development, using cultural and religious elements stemming from Qatar’s rich culture. QBG encourages participation based on a sense of individual, societal, and spiritual responsibility.
Fatima al-Khulaifi, director, QBG, said, “All our programmes aim to educate students about the importance of preserving natural resources, protecting the environment, as well as cultivating and reforming lands. QBG has established educational programs that are suitable for diverse age groups and closely integrated into school curricula to ensure a practical application of this knowledge.”
