Kids go green! Ceremony celebrates success of IVE pilot pre-primary environmental awareness campaign and kicking-off of extended initiative
Officiating at the combined ceremony, Secretary for the Environment WONG Kam-sing was enthusiastic and supportive of the Pilot School Campaign. He said, “The campaign successfully promotes a ‘use less, waste less’ culture to help children develop environmental awareness at an early stage. It is a good start to promote pre-primary environmental education.” Mr Wong also appealed to nurseries and kindergartens for their continued support of the Kids’ Greenway project to be launched by the IVE with a view to promoting the understanding of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ among young children and further cultivating the ‘use less, waste less’ culture in pre-primary education.
VTC Executive Director Carrie YAU said that VTC has long been a keen supporter to the cause of environmental protection and sustainability. Of VTC programmes at various levels, green elements have been incorporated to match students’ professional knowledge with environmental awareness. For instance, IVE Engineering students developed the solar-powered car, SOPHIE, with their engineering expertise, while the research team of Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi), another VTC member institution, took part in the sustainable footwear project by using recycled clothing as footwear materials. All these products contribute to the betterment of environment as well as promoting green education to members of the public.
Jointly launched by the Environmental Protection Department and CECTL of IVE, the Pilot School Campaign ‘Prevention First before Reuse and Recycling’ covered 53 nursery schools and kindergartens in 2013 to 2015 which were provided with an educational pack on waste reduction specifically developed by teachers and students of IVE for kindergarten upper class children aged around five to six. The teaching pack consisted of illustrated storybooks, a database on related topics and suggested games for inculcating the concept of environmental protection in an easy-to-understand way among pre-primary children.
A height appropriate motion sensor three-colour recycling bin was also provided by IVE which voices prompts when children approach, reminding them about waste sorting. During the campaign, CECTL also provided training to about 120 teachers from the participating schools to ensure the most effective use of the educational pack. More than 3,000 students and parents participated in and completed the campaign.
After the campaign, CECTL conducted a questionnaire in which more than 90% of the teachers were positive that the pack was helpful in teaching environmental education at school. School representatives also agreed it had been successful in helping pre-school children to better understand the importance of recycling and identify the recycled materials in their daily lives and thus learn to ‘use less, waste less’.
Following the success of the Pilot School Campaign, IVE launched ‘The Kids’ Greenway’ through the Environment and Conservation Fund in November 2015, targeting kindergarten lower class children aged around four to five. IVE will provide a series of training workshops for teachers to strengthen their capability in developing school-based green curricula and furthering effective school-family collaboration. As well as teaching packs, IVE has also established the ‘Early Childhood Education Teacher Gateway’ providing a professional platform to drive exchanges on teaching environmental education. IVE will also partner with industry, the Government and related green groups to host community green days, enabling awareness of environmental protection to become second nature with children who will then propagate these ideals as they grow up.
A ‘Green Exhibition’ was organised to display the details and outcome of the campaign following the Kick-off Ceremony of Kids’ Greenway. The exhibition also provided a platform for the participants and school representatives to share their experience and insights in implementing pre-primary environmental education.
The Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) is a member of the VTC Group. The nine IVE campuses are located across the territory. Together they provide vocational education for secondary graduates as well as people in employment. IVE courses leading to the award of higher diploma and Diploma of Foundation Studies cover various academic disciplines including Applied Science; Business Administration; Childcare, Elderly and Community Services; Design; Information Technology; Engineering; as well as Hotel, Service and Tourism Studies. Website: www.ive.edu.hk
