Green drive by school

With registrations now closed for The Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2009, schools and students all across Bahrain will be starting to plan their project entries with the hope that come January next year, when the competition's judging takes place, they will be fortunate enough to be selected as one of the Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2009 Category Winners.

One such school is Al Hoora Commercial Girls School. Founded in 1970, the school has 350 pupils, taking on a wide range of subjects across the literature, science and commercial disciplines.

Al Hoora School has registered for Category D - the secondary school section - in Eden Challenge 2009, as it did for Eden Challenge 2008.

The school's principal, Mrs Al Motawa, said that last year's Eden Challenge project was a real focus for the team, made up of girls taking gardening as a free option subject.

Under the watchful eye of the gardening class teacher, Jihan, they worked on their entry during gardening classes, their breaks and any other free time they had.

Mrs Al Motawa said that for Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2009, she wanted to expand the project team to include girls taking not only gardening but also another of the free option, art.

The whole school was able to enjoy and share in a connection to Eden Challenge through the girls making a presentation of their project to the other girls.

According to Mrs Al Motawa, this fired up the interest of all of the students in taking a wider interest in and appreciation of the environment and, in particular, the recycling / further use of items that they would normally have seen as just waste rubbish - so much so that an exhibition of re-cycled products and their uses was put together by girls from across the school.

These were the two big messages coming out of Eden Challenge according to Mrs Al Motawa - a greater interest in the environment and a greater appreciation of the need to use and re-cycle waste in more productive and imaginative ways.

She thought that Riffa Views Signature Estates, through Eden Challenge and its other community based initiatives, has provided an important contribution to the way the island focuses on its environment and keeping its surroundings as beautiful as ever.

Mrs Al Motawa said Eden Challenge 2008 had also left a lasting impression on the school staff-wise - two further gardening teachers being added, together with a full-time gardener to tend to the school-grounds, which include the commemorative Riffa Views Eden Challenge 2008 tree which is continuing to flourish.

Based on ideas chosen from a school-wide competition being held to allow any of the girls to play a part in the project irrespective of whether they are a full-time part of the team or not, Mrs Al Motawa is hoping her students can go one better this year in catching the eyes of the judging panel.