A garden with several purposes has been inaugurated at St Monica School in Gzira by Education Minister Louis Galea and Environment Minister George Pullicino.

Maria Teresa Spinelli garden, as it has been called, should achieve several aims, including making children more conscious of the environment. It is a typical Maltese garden, with all the plants being indigenous or endemic and thus it would encourage the students to appreciate their natural heritage.

The garden is to be used for environmental studies and biology, having been planned in a way that it shows different ecosystems found in Malta, with the flora associated with each. The garden is to be allowed to have its natural cycles of seasons without interference, to show the phases of the flora and fauna in their natural environment. It will serve as a tool in the study of the natural environment.

Dr Galea praised all those involved in building the garden. It was an initiative taken up by the students themselves and for this reason they would feel the garden to be truly their own. Using the school’s environment as a teaching instrument is favourable since when children touch and see things for themselves they learn a great deal. The ministry, he added, was stressing the importance of the environment in its schools and there were various schools which had attractive environments, and even gardens with indigenous trees and plants.

Mr Pullicino praised the students, especially the students in the Eko-Skola committee, who had helped in realising the project. This was testimony of the success that the Eko-Skola project had, with the participation of 25,000 students from 54 primary schools.

He also announced the Young Reporters for the Environment, an international initiative in which students will carry out journalistic work about the environment. The aim was for students to have an increased awareness of the environment, while their articles would be published in school publications. Through an annual competition the best works would be published or broadcast in the media after being judged by a committee.

The pilot project was conducted by Nature Trust and supported by the Environment Ministry and HSBC.