EEG organizes its eighth Inter School Environmental Public Speaking Competition

This public speaking competition is a well anticipated event that provides a platform for networking, sharing and learning.

Under the patronage of H. E. Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali, Minister of Education, this year it attracted well above 600 students and guests with 92 participating teams from schools all over UAE, creating a record in the history of this competition by being the biggest so far and covering schools from all the seven emirates.

Nearly 30% of the participating schools gave their presentation in Arabic. This unique bi-lingual eco-contest promoted a good deal of research apart from presentation and oratory skills.

The over arching objective was to enhance the level of know how and public responsibility on environmental issues by creating awareness in the early years of life and facilitating an informed citizenry for future.

It aimed at motivating the young to adopt sustainable habits and practices throughout their professional and personal lives.

As always, the event generated excitement, curiosity and the quest for environmental study and research.

It received a great deal of positive feedback from participants and guests alike. Having an equal number of male and female speakers, it was a two day event with the first day being dedicated to students from the age group of 12 -15 years (Sub senior) while the second day had students belonging to the age group of 16 -18 years (Senior) presenting their views.

The presence of a motley audience consisting of students and directors of participating institutions, and a number of VIP guests added to the feeling of competitiveness and an incentive to out-perform each other.

On behalf of the Ministry of Education Ms. Khawla Almulla honoured the event by her presence, both in the opening and closing ceremony.

She also joined the sponsors and Mrs. Sara Baker, EEG - executive committee member, in handing out the trophies and certificates to the winners of the competition during the awarding ceremony.

The Winners for the different topics were:

Our World in a Hundred Years:
The Millenium School - Dubai
Our Seas - Our Future: Al Salam Private School - Dubai
Living in a Plastic World: Al Wehda Secondary School - Abu Dhabi
Clean Energy - 21st Century Trend: Umm Amar School for Secondary Education - Abu Dhabi

The overall winning school who received the Rolling Trophy for this year was:

AL SALAM PRIVATE SCHOOL - DUBAI
The competition was judged by academicians from different universities and colleges who have participated in EEG's Intercollegiate Public Speaking Competitions in previous cycles.

The participation of these judges helped add value to their environmental activities and expand EEG's network of resourceful people.

It also gave the judges, an insight into the capabilities of the students at that young age and how these could be developed further to become the true custodians of this planet.

The judges allotted marks based on clarity of speech, originality of ideas, environmental impact/solution, and the presentation of research evidence. Based on the rules of the competition a school that manages to win three times will be entitled to keep the rolling trophy.

However since the start of this competition, no school has been able to achieve this feat, which proves the competitiveness of the participating schools year after year.

At a time when there is mounting evidence around the world of the impact of human behavior on the planet in the short and long term, the threat to future sustainability, security and peace; events such as these provide a refreshing and much required platform for raising the banner of public concern and responsibility.

The competition was also effective in establishing that environmental issues cut across geographical borders and socio-cultural differences, and urgent and concerted action from all may be the solution to a better collective future.

While uncontrolled forces, both human and natural, will contribute to the course of events like bio-diversity, pollution, acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change; informed decision-making will play a vital role to shape the future.

Focus on using energy more efficiently and reducing its carbon intensity will be everybody's responsibility.

Universal goals and objectives should be set up for the countries, the communities and for every stakeholder in the society.

Once again, this year's two day event was supported by EEG's corporate members Al Safi Club for Friends of the Environment and JW Marriott, Dubai.

Congratulating the participating students for their superb performance and confident attitude, Mrs. Sara Baker, once again lauded the dedication and efforts of all that contributed to the successful conclusion of the eighth cycle of the inter school environmental public speaking competition.