CENN, with the financial support of the Austrian Development Cooperation, hosted the final event of the youth environmental competition, the Niko Ketskhoveli School Awards.
32 school eco-clubs from Georgia participating in the final presented important environmental and social activities that they have implemented in their cities or villages during the year to jury members and invited guests. During the opening, speeches were given by: Solomon Pavliashvili – Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture; Tamar Makharashvili – First Deputy Minister of Education and Science; Thomas Mühlmann – The Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to Georgia; Alexander Karner – Head of the Coordination Office for Technical Cooperation of the Austrian Embassy in Tbilisi; Sabine Machl – UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia; Nana Janashia – Executive Director, CENN.
At the final meeting, the members of the jury were presented and the participants were evaluated by: Karlo Amirgulashvili – Head of Biodiversity and Forest Department at Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia; Natia Iordanishvili – Deputy Head of National
Forestry Agency; Tamar Aladashvili – Director of Environmental Information and Education Centre; Eka Targamadze – Chief Specialist of Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia; Muro Takalandze – Communications Manager at United Nations Association of Georgia; Ana Mosiashvili – an Expert on Women`s Empowerment. Also, among the jury was the Ambassador of the Niko Ketskhoveli School Award and Teacher of the Year (2019) – Lado Apkhazava.
The winners are as follows:
* 1st place – Public school #10 of Abkhazia
* 2nd place – Rustavi #18 public school
* 3rd place – Rokiti Public School
The winning schools will be given financial awards for improving the school environment:
* 1st place winner – 5,000 GEL
* 2nd place winner – 4,000 GEL
* 3rd place winner – 3,000 GEL
Furthermore, competition partners announced their chosen eco-clubs and awarded them special prizes:
The Ministry of Education and Science gave 250 GEL book vouchers to 7 chosen schools and 500,400 and 300 GEL equipment vouchers to 3 selected schools.
The chosen schools of The Ministry of Education and Science were:
Kaspi #3 school, Badiauri Public school, Tkibuli #2 Public School, Rtskhmeluri Public School, Sachkhere #2 Public school, Abkhazia #10 Public School, Bobokvati Public School, Dedoplistskharo #2 Public School, Maradisi Public School, Eshtia Public School.
The National Forest Agency’s nominee was Eshtia Public School, whose eco-club will be awarded a Microscope for the eco-club laboratory.
Karlo Amirgulashvili, long-standing jury member, revealed the nominated school of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture as Zugdidi #4 Public School. As a prize eco-club members have chance to be Ministers of Environmental Protection for a day.
The Green Award by the Environmental Education center was awarded to Nona Toklikishvili, a teacher of the Dedoplistskharo #2 Public School. The center also revealed its favorite eco-speaker as Anita Lazishvili, the Alambri Public School leader. She was awarded a bookshop voucher for 200 GEL.
Ilia State University gave 300 GEL vouchers of Ligamus book house to selected schools.
The chosen schools of Ilia State University were: Lapanaantkari Public School, Shulaveri Public School, Dzveli Anagi Public School, Kachreti #1 Public school and Kakhati #1 Public school.
Further, the partner organization Grand Thornton Georgia awarded 3 winner schools a session of trainings.
The Niko Ketskhoveli School Awards is a competition for eco-clubs and unites about 700 schools of Georgia. The main goal of the competition is to inform schoolchildren about the goals of sustainable development and reveal possibilities of making changes with their own hands to improve the natural and social environment. Within the framework of the competition, semi-final meetings were held in July of this year, where a total of 129 school eco-clubs participated. During the semi-final meetings, 32 eco-clubs participating in the final were identified.
CENN implements the Niko Ketskhoveli School Award within the framework of the Sustainable Forest Management for Rural Development project, with financial support of the Austrian Development Cooperation. The co-organizers of the competition are the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and Science and the Parliament of Georgia. Read more about the awards here: https://rb.gy/u7o5n8