Students attending Safi Primary School are enjoying a greener environment with more trees and plants within their school grounds as the Local Council completed an embellishment project supported by Ambjent Malta and Project Green.

On Wednesday morning, Minister for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise Miriam Dalli and Minister for Education, Sports, Youth, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima announced the completion of this project during a visit at Safi Primary school.

This environmental initiative is among the 11 projects in various localities in Malta and Gozo that are benefitting from the Urban Greening Scheme launched by the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise last year, with a total investment of €700,000 by Ambjent Malta and Project Green.

Though this project in Safi, the garden of the St Benedict College’s Safi Primary School now has 132 more indigenous trees and plants, including African tamarisk, cypress, Maltese rock-centaury and lentisk. Students and teachers will continue to maintain this green space as part of their educational program. In fact, this area now has information signs with details about the trees and plants in the same garden, so that the children can identify them and learn about them. The project also included the installation of an automatic irrigation system to water the trees and plants.

Minister Miriam Dalli explained that the support scheme that the Safi Primary School has benefitted from with the support of the Local Council, is one of the Government’s initiatives to encourage communities to invest in a better, healthier environment in every locality.

“Through collaborations with various local councils, government entities and non-governmental organisations, we are regenerating existing gardens and open spaces, whilst creating new ones. Projects like this one in a primary school are even more important to us, as they help to bring many children closer to nature,” stated Minister Dalli.

Minister Dalli encouraged local councils, schools, entities, and other organisations to continue implementing environmental projects with the support of several Government schemes, to continue working towards more sustainable communities.

Minister Grima explained the importance of collaborations with different ministries and entities to continue improving the educational system. “Today we are visiting another project which showcases the importance of the environment in the educational sector. We are working to regenerate open spaces in our schools and to increase students’ environmental awareness. It is also a hands-on project for the students, who will continue taking care of this space with their educators,” stated Minister Grima.

Present for this visit were the Head of the Safi Primary School Michelle Spiteri, CEO of Project Green Steve Ellul, and the Director General of Ambjent Malta Herman Galea, together with the Safi Local Council.

The Urban Greening Scheme of Project Green and Ambjent Malta includes several environmental projects in different localities, including Għajnsielem, Rabat (Malta), Ħamrun, Raħal Ġdid and Żejtun.