Environment Quiz – an effective way of raising awareness about the environment among students
Radio & TV Tonga, Nuku’alofa, 10/05/2019
The Environment Quiz for secondary schools hosted by the Ministry of MEIDECC’s Environment Department has been highly praised by the participating students as a more attractive and effective way of raising awareness among the students.
In the second week of the quiz, Ocean of Light International School lost to Liahona High School while Tupou College won against Beulah College, yesterday. Despite their loss, and the end of the quiz for them – the Ocean of Light and Beulah College students said this competition has been an insightful and educational experience for them.
Tiani Hettig and Antonio Moeaki from Ocean of Light said this quiz is a fun way of encouraging and engaging the students in raising awareness on the environment.
“It’s good to know all these new types of information. I’m grateful for the opportunity even though we did not win, but it’s still a great experience for anyone who wants to participate in this competitions – I encourage you to compete because it’s very educational.”
“It’s made us more aware of pollution and ways in which we can do it so while we were preparing for this, we learned about different types of pollution and how it impacts the ocean.”
Lilian Pulini from Beulah College supported this saying that their team has learnt more about important environment issues in preparation for and during this quiz.
“We’re so happy about this experience. This quiz helps us in conserving and preserving our environment.”
Meanwhile ‘Itanoa Niu and Dhilon Rajah from Liahona High School admitted they were nervous for the competition but they also found it interesting and beneficial to expanding their own knowledge on this issue.
“We get to know about all the pollutions, all the concerns that are going around and what we can do as a nation to make Tonga look better again. The environment is very important. We live here and we should be considerate of our environment.”
“This quiz allows me to learn more about the many organisms we’re unaware of that we live around us so it encourages us to stop polluting the environment.”
From Tupou College – Sione Havea Fonua says a particular area that they learnt a lot in was the ocean, and they are looking forward to the next part of the quiz.
Teachers, Toe’umu Funaki from Liahona and Ruhiyyih (RUHIA) Sa’ili from Ocean of Light says the biggest challenge their teams faced was the short preparation time, but they along with Tonga Veatufunga from Beulah and ‘Asolua Fifita from Tupou College, believe their students participation in this quiz, no matter the score, has provided them with a good learning experience.
“Time was very limited and the only option we had was that we had to briefly discuss with these students what they need to know based on the topic that we were provided with and we also made the attempt to at least give them a framework – a picture of what this program was all about. It has provided a learning experience not only for those who participated but for everyone else at school of having the significance of raising an awareness where they can see the real picture of what is happening around them not only here in Tonga, but also in the Pacific and worldwide.”
“With the students at school that basically study worldwide events, there’s less focus in their locality but with this awareness actually brings them back to pay more attention to what’s happening here in Tonga. Even though our quiz team lost to Liahona, but they have learned so much about what’s happening in their own island of Tonga and what is being done to prevent this.”
With Tupou College and Liahona High School winning this round they now advance to the semi finals next week together with the 2 winners from last week – Tonga High School and Queen Salote College. This quiz competition is held in preparation for the Environment Week on the 2nd – 8th of June.
© Radio and Television Tonga News