A five-month Erasmusplus project entitled Protecting the Environment through Conservation Techniques in which eight students from Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, Naxxar, were involved was awarded second place at the World Symposium on Lifelong Learning and Sustainable Development.
Joseph Schembri, national coordinator for Erasmusplus and CEO of the European Union Programmes Agency, said: “The project proved the importance of lifelong learning experiences that target learning beyond the classroom and that nurture an appreciation of sustainable development by presenting unique, flexible and challenging experiences to our young people”.
During the five-month project the Maltese students, together with Romanian youths at the University of Babeș-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, worked in various activities over a period of two weeks in a conservation area run by Fundatia Adept and Operation Wallacea in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, in Transylvania, Romania.
During a ceremony, school head Gaetano Calleja and College principal Victor Galea congratulated the students and encouraged other young people to seize opportunities to widen their horizons from such learning opportunities taking place in other EU countries.
Sheryl Green, a teacher at the school, commented: “This experience helped foster in participants attitudes conducive to environmental protection and conservation. It had a very positive outcome on their personal development in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will increase their chances of finding employment locally or overseas.”