Get them young: Schoolchildren to learn about energy conservation

LAHORE:

As many as 45,000 students from grade one to nine will participate in seminars and competitions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Punjab under an agreement signed between the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL).  

Under the agreement for an extensive student outreach programme signed in 2011, students from 15 cities in the Punjab and five cities in KPk would participate in the spelling competitions and seminars focusing on alternative energy and gas and electricity conservation.

The organisers will also distribute course books on conservation and alternative energy resources among the students to help them prepare for the competitions.

The programme will be held between November 2012 and March 2013.

Sania Khan, an assistant manager for corporate relations at WWF, said the Fund was providing technical support for the seminars that included lectures by experts and designing booklets that would be distributed during the seminars. The SNGPL, she said, had provided Rs3 million for the programme.

“The programme will be held in winters, when it is crucial to educate children about conservation as that is when more gas is consumed by domestic consumers”

Khan said nine booklets were being prepared for each grade to study from.

“They are all about conservation and alternative energy use, but have been designed slightly differently for different grades,” she said.

The organisers will coach 35,000 students from private schools and 10,000 from public schools in the related subjects. Khan said more children from private schools use gas, water and electric heaters.

“They and their parents are probably consuming more electricity or gas than public school children. We are introducing the idea in public schools but mainly focusing on children in private schools,” she said.

She said seminars will be arranged for most schools in Punjab but only in Peshawar and Noshera in KPK. However, she said, booklets will be distributed among in schools.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2012.