Environmental Initiative Expands Throughout Sharjah, Educating More Than 160,000 Students In Over 200 Schools

Bee’ah School of Environment Set to Enhance Its Online School Portal for Academic Year 2012-2013

The Bee’ah School of Environment (BSOE), an environmental education initiative created by Bee’ah – the Middle East’s award winning and leading integrated environmental and waste management company – has announced its expansion to the Eastern and Central Region of Sharjah, increasing the reach of its environmental learning experience by 35% to 160,000 students in over 200 schools.

In addition to the announcement which came during the Kids Edutainment Show held from October 10th to 12th 2012, the Bee’ah School of Environment will also have an enhanced online school portal with new features, applications and an interactive forum for students and teachers, which will help accelerate the development and delivery of quality environmental education throughout the Emirate of Sharjah.

“We are proud to see the outstanding success of Bee’ah’s environmental educational initiative in spreading awareness for a sustainable future of Sharjah and the UAE,” said Khaled Al Huraimel, Chief Executive Officer at Bee’ah. “Planting the seed of environmental education is key to leading environmental change. Bee’ah is doing a lot to spread this awareness through education and awareness programmes, as it is part of our mandate to prepare children, and ultimately our community to practice sustainability within their daily lives.”

“Online communication has been a vital part of our society, and by remodelling the website by incorporating education with social interaction between teachers, students and parents, we expect to see a major positive change towards the environmental way of thinking and performing within our community.”

Supported by the Sharjah Education Zone (SEZ) and sponsored by various corporate partners, in its second inaugural year, the initiative’s achievement of environmental education has successfully reached over 120,000 students within 118 schools across the Emirate Sharjah. The third year of BSOE is aimed at reaching even more students by creating new lesson plans and activities about the importance of recycling and conserving water, energy and natural resources.

The BSOE will reinforce the online educational programmes as of its second year, while the online digital interface will be enhanced to act as a ‘self-start’ ignition for students, to allow for the involvement and engagement in a variety of environmental activities and sustainable practices. The new and improved website will include a students’ section where they can integrate their environmental lessons with social media and use various interactive elements to express their views and their learning. It is a collaborative setting that involves both teachers and students to further engage them by exploring and increasing their knowledge of the environment.

Bee’ah envisions an expansion of this initiative and plans to take its educational learning tools beyond just Sharjah, but nation-wide throughout the UAE, with the support of both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Environment and Water. Through adopting its programmes within the school’s academic curriculum, Bee’ah aims to help the community understand the importance of environmental education and responsibility.

“We hope that the BSOE will inspire teachers and students all over the UAE to take responsibility in their own hands for a greener and more sustainable world.” concluded Al Huraimel.

The Bee’ah School of Environment (BSOE) was launched in October 2010, in support of the Sharjah Education Zone (SEZ), and sponsored by various corporate partners. It is a comprehensive, bilingual (English and Arabic) educational initiative that consists of a range of engaging, fun and interactive environmental activities and lesson plans that are designed to be applied in classrooms and/or eco-clubs.

Through an online portal (www.beeah-edu.ae), teachers who register for free are given access to the material online via usernames and passwords. The material can be downloaded from this portal and integrated into existing curricula or can be grouped according to relevant school subjects.

The programme follows a ‘cascading effect’, whereby Bee’ah “trains the trainers” (the teachers) on how to access the material online, and consequently provided with the knowledge and tools to educate the students. Students are also trained by Bee’ah staff on the importance of waste management through adopting the 3R’s in their daily lives, and take these values home to share with their parents, grandparents and siblings.

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