Stakeholders in the educational sector are calling for the aggressive inclusion of youth, especially students, to ensure the sustainability of the Green Ghana Project.
According to the stakeholders, who have welcomed the government’s reforestation initiative to improve the country’s forest cover, focusing on students and getting them involved in the Green Ghana Project will go a long way in helping to ensure its sustainability, as students will serve as change ambassadors.
In an interview with Citi News after leading a team to plant over 200 trees at the Kpone Community Senior High School on Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer of ASA Savings and Loans International, MD, Kojo Aourongjeb, called on government to focus on restoring the green cover.
“The Green Ghana Project is in response to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s call to support the Green Ghana Project, which is why we at ASA Savings and Loans are planting 7,000 trees across the country. We have already planted some in the Ashanti Region, Eastern Region, and Western Region. We are now in Kpone at the school today, where we are planting some 200 trees and also creating ambassadors among the students. We are especially focusing on students because we believe that they are the future of the country and they can carry our message to the community.”
“This is not the end. We are also ensuring to do a proper follow-up so that we can make sure that the trees grow as expected and that the same exercise will be repeated in the coming years. We will ensure that we are able to plant more trees gradually across the country. We believe that they are the future of the nation.”
He added, “They will be our future leaders in the coming years, so we are focusing on the school to make them aware and take the responsibility from us. They can also play a role in their own community, in their own family, and in their own society. We are appealing to the government to focus more on the environment, because we are all suffering from global warming and we need to ensure that the Green Ghana Project is sustained.”
The Headmaster of the Kpone Community Senior High School Ebo Kwaansa Edonu who noted the importance of the tree planting exercise, says they will teach the students to the need to engage their community on why they have to protect the environment.
“As part of our curriculum, some of these activities are imbedded in our books so the sustainable environment and others are in our social studies books and integrated science. So currently, we are doing the cognitive aspect and we must ensure the students buy into this idea as they learn and go back to their communities with better understanding of the need to safe guard the environment and keep it from all forms of pollution.
“At the end of the day, if you want to introduce any program, you must start from the schools, when students get the concept and practicalize it. They go back to make changes in their societies, change takes time so we are hoping over time, the whole population will be educated and embrace the need to protect and preserve the environment”.
The Headmaster of the Kpone Community Senior High School, Ebo Kwaansa Edonu, who noted the importance of the tree planting exercise, said they will teach the students the need to engage their community on why they have to protect the environment.
Madam Grace Taylor, Forest Range Manager for the Tema District Forestry Commission, who touched on the importance of involving students in the exercise, said it is the way to go.
“Trees are important because they produce oxygen and also help filter poisonous gas in the atmosphere, so it’s important that we include school children in this all-important exercise. It will instill in them the values of knowing the importance of planting trees and also nurturing them, so that future generations can also benefit from them.”