A United Nations-recognised programme to empower students to find ways to make the world more sustainable through action-led learning has been embraced by two Island schools.

Victor Scott and West Pembroke primary schools are leading the way as the first on the Island to be involved in the Eco Schools programme.

It is a final initiative from the Bermuda Environmental Alliance (BEA) as the organisation wraps up its work after five years.

Around the world millions of students have benefited from following the Eco Schools initiative. It is a “a whole school programme”, explained Laura Hickey, of the National Wildlife Federation, which the BEA linked with to bring Eco Schools to Bermuda.

Ms Hickey said Eco Schools gets students, teachers and facilitators involved in promoting more environmentally friendly actions, such as improving the school’s grounds and air quality, getting rid of toxins. The organisation has already introduced the Foundation for Environmental Education-created programme into 2,700 US schools.

A meeting between the BEA’s executive director Sangita Iyer and the NWF president Larry Schweiger was the catalyst for bringing Eco Schools to Bermuda.

“Ms Iyer investigated to see if Eco Schools could be launched in Bermuda. She invited me to participate in a workshop where we will talk about the programme and about how it can be made relevant to Bermuda,” explained Ms Hickey.

West Pembroke Primary School principal Opal Wilson said the school was “enthused to be one of two trailblazers in this UN-recognised initiative”,

She added: “We pride ourselves in knowing that we already keep our environment immaculately clean. The prospect of enhancing our site by embracing the components of Eco-Schools is welcomed.

“There is much to learn by both staff and students alike. We thank Sangita Iyer in advance for her diligence in ensuring that our environment gets better attention and to include West Pembroke School in the process.”

Since 2009 the BEA has been involved in numerous projects to promote conservation and environmental stewardship, most notably with its TV documentaries and its ‘Bermuda — Nature’s Jewel’ DVD, of which hundreds have been distributed freely to schoolchildren across the Island as an educational aid.

Ms Iyer said it was not enough merely to show or teach people what they could do to improve the environment because the real breakthrough comes from getting people to actually do those things.

She views Eco Schools as a lasting legacy the BEA can give to the Island as it concludes its activities.

“We are engaging the students at the grass roots level. When they are taught these things at an early age the grow up to be responsible environmental citizens,” she said.

“We give them the information at a young age and they carry that forward to the next generation.”

She thanked sponsors HSBC Bermuda and Gorham’s for making the programme possible.

Gorham’s general manager Andrew Mackay said the company was supporting Eco Schools due to its belief “that the children of Bermuda need to start learning about how important and fragile our Island is”.

“After inviting Ms Iyer to Gorham’s to host a Slash the Trash initiative it has become apparent that we are a throwaway society and have no real understanding the impact it is having on our island,” he said.

“The Eco Schools initiative is an alternate way to help educate the next generation of Bermudians so this trend does not continue. In adopting Victor Scott School we felt its size, its importance to the community that surround it and its proximity to the Marsh Folly site was perfect.”