Sunday March 8, 2009

Heed the little voices

By ALYCIA LIM

These Year Five pupils may be young but they have what it takes to do big things.

NOTHING and no one is too small to make a difference,” said emcees Joshua James Tan Chien Wei, 11, and Shameeta Sivagurunathan, 11, both pupils from SK Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, as the audience cheered just before they left the stage.

That was the over-arching message at the recent launch of The Big Green Help National School Programme held in Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur.

The children posing with Ashah (sixth from left) and other guests at the launch.

The project was organised by children’s television network Nickelodeon, in partnership with the Education Ministry and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

A total of 140 Year Five pupils from three schools in the Klang Valley — SK Taman Megah, SK Seri Bintang Utara, and SK Desa Pandan — were present at the event, which began with a special appearance by well-loved cartoon characters SpongeBob SquarePants and his best friend, Patrick Star. There was also a skit about human greed causing harm to the environment, presented by children from the Tree Theatre Group.

The entire launch was handled by the children to drive home the message that it was important to empower young people as they have the power to do things which can make a difference in the world, even though they may be “small”.

“We are proud to partner with Nickelodeon in this project because we share a similar vision, which is to let children make a difference,” said Education Ministry Residential School Management and Cluster Schools Division director, Ashah Sama,

“Nickelodeon has provided us with an avenue to do so.”

The launch was held in conjunction with a Kick The “Bag” Habit project, a part of The Big Green Help campaign.

This project saw the children moving around in groups to get shoppers to pledge that they would bring their own reusable bags when shopping.

INDRA: We wanted something easy, yet impactful, that children can work on.

When asked why Nickelodeon came up with the plastic bag initiative, Nickelodeon Asia executive vice-president and managing director Indra Suharjono said that the use of simple ideas in the campaign would help children feel empowered and more keen to get involved.

“We wanted something easy, yet impactful, that children can work on.

“Furthermore, an activity like this can also be implemented immediately,” said Indra, adding that other good habits that should be encouraged included things like switching off the lights when leaving a room, and turning off the tap when brushing teeth.

“Sometimes, as adults, we need children to remind us of the simplest things.”

As part of the Big Green Help National School Programme, children aged 14 and below can participate in an essay-writing competition, in which they can voice their opinions on environmental issues and state what the public can do to help preserve the environment.

The winner will represent Malaysia at the International Children’s Conference on the Environment in South Korea, organised by UNEP and its South Korean partners later this year.

“The International Children’s Conference is an excellent opportunity for children to share with the world the ways we can all combat global environmental issues at grassroots level,” said Indra.

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