St Peter’s Budokomi Senior School Principal Dishon Shiundu has urged the government to introduce national environmental cleaning days to promote conservation, combat pollution and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Speaking after leading students in a cleaning exercise at the Busia County Commissioner’s office, Shiundu said setting aside specific days for collective environmental cleaning would encourage Kenyans to take greater responsibility for maintaining clean and safe surroundings.
“We need to have national cleaning days that will see everyone concentrating on cleaning the environment and making it safe for our lives. Our environment has been polluted and destroyed, leaving us struggling to deal with climate change. There is much focus on planting trees, but we should also focus on maintaining the ones already planted,” he said.
Shiundu called on government agencies responsible for environmental conservation to ensure existing policies and guidelines were effectively implemented, noting that inadequate enforcement continued to undermine efforts to protect the environment.
“As a nation, we have lacked sustainable strategies that will ensure environmental conservation. The government is providing proper guidelines, but the challenge has remained the lack of proper implementation of the existing policies and the laxity of those entrusted with the responsibility,” he said.
He urged learning institutions to take a leading role in conservation by involving learners in cleaning exercises and strengthening partnerships with government institutions.
“Every year, as a school, we conduct environmental conservation and cleaning exercises outside the school. This year, we are doing it at the County Commissioner’s office to improve collaboration between the school and other national government institutions,” he said.
Nelly Makobi, a teacher at St Peter’s Budokomi Senior School, emphasised the importance of introducing learners to environmental conservation at an early age to instil responsible practices they could carry into their communities.
“We are engaging learners in environmental conservation so that when they leave school, they will be able to protect the environment in their communities. They have to understand that without environmental conservation, there is no life,” she said.
Makobi added that involving children in conservation activities would help them appreciate the importance of protecting natural resources and participating in community environmental initiatives as they grow older.
School captain Mitchelle Aresurb said learners also had a responsibility to protect the environment, noting that destructive practices, including indiscriminate tree cutting, had contributed to climate change and affected communities.
“We have been affected by climate change due to the habit of destroying the environment and cutting down trees without replacing them. As learners, we have been advocating for tree planting at our homesteads to increase tree cover in our county,” she said.
Aresurb urged learners and members of the public to embrace environmental cleaning and conservation in their homes, schools, public spaces and private premises.
She said collective action would help improve environmental cleanliness, increase tree cover and create healthier surroundings for communities.
By Salome Alwanda and Rodgers Omondi
