The campaign designed to educate children on the importance of maintaining public cleanliness has recommenced, with the iconic character of Xummiemu leading the way during educational sessions being held at SkolaSajf.

The Minister for Education, Clifton Grima, visited the school in Wied il-Għajn during one of these sessions, alongside the Parliamentary Secretary for Public Cleanliness, Glenn Bedingfield.

Minister Grima praised this initiative and highlighted the importance of educating Maltese from a young age to learn about and cherish our surrounding environments.

In these sessions, children learn about the importance of recycling, in which coloured bags different waste must be discarded in, the importance in illegal waste not being thrown away similarly, and about how long it takes for different materials to naturally degrade if they are disposed recklessly.

Furthermore, all children present pledge to become “Xummiemu rangers” during these sessions, by which they promise to contribute to Xummiemu’s mission and take action if they come across any illegal dumping of waste.

Minister Grima said that local schools are offering a “complete education” through which children are learning the full curriculum as well as subjects that can help teach children how to be full citizens. He added that through these visits, he can personally see how much the younger generation today cares about the environment, and that it is good for children to be shown the importance of the environment outside their homes.

“I believe that this generation will be an example for us to also make a greater effort to understand that the environment is part of our daily life, and therefore, we must take care of it,” Minister Grima said.

Parliamentary Secretary Bedingfield said that in order to safeguard out country, all types of people must be reached.

“That is why we are doing these sessions with children,” he said, “We want to foster a culture of cleanliness because to take care of our country, we need a collective effort from the big and small.”

Apart from schools, a national campaign promoting public cleanliness is ongoing. A central aspect of this campaign involves conveying knowledge about the different means that exist for citizens to report instances of illegal dumping. One such channel is through the “Clean and Upkeep” application or through a phone call to the number 1718.