MAKKAH: Saudi officials have launched a campaign to teach children about the role and use of energy in society and raise awareness of the related environmental issues.
The Children to Stay initiative, which is sponsored by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the minister of energy, officially began on Monday with a special event at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh. It was organized by the National Campaign to Rationalize Energy Consumption, an initiative of the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center in cooperation with the Ministry of Education.
Guests at the event included officials from the public and private sectors, including Education Minister Yousef Al-Benyan, and local children who gave presentations about energy and the environment, and took part in themed educational games.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, sponsored on Monday the launch ceremony of the "Children to Stay" project at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, KAPSARC, in Riyadh, targeting children from 4 to 12 years old. (Supplied)
Organizers said the campaign will include educational programs, publications and even animated series, and mobile exhibitions will visit cities across the country to teach children about energy consumption in fun and interesting ways.
Muayad Al-Attas, director of the Awareness Communication Department at the Ministry of Energy, told Arab News that the Children to Stay campaign aims to help develop a generation of Saudis who are fully aware of the importance of energy, how to use it responsibly, and its role in the development of the country.
“It also educates children about the impact of energy consumption and conservation, and guides them in energy-saving behaviors,” he added.
The project will deliver important educational messages to young people, he added, to help motivate them to adopt personal practices that reduce energy waste and, more than that, to work in their communities to share what they have learned, raise awareness of dangers of energy inefficiency and encourage environmentally friendly consumption.
Al-Attas said that one of the most important messages for young people is awareness of how scarce energy was in the past and the “importance of preserving it, as everyone depends on energy in daily life, and energy had a prominent and important role in the development of life and was a major supporter of achievements at all levels.”
He added that the project will be available online and “will also be present on social media platforms and satellite channels, in addition to … mobile exhibitions held in all regions of the Kingdom to entrench the concept of energy conservation.”
