Children to be exposed to Environmental Education at vacation camps
THE National Parks Commission (NPC)  will next week,  for the first time ever, be staging  two sets of vacation camps for  children aged between six and thirteen years with the aim of increasing their awareness and understanding of the natural environment and how best to  interact with it. Organizer Ms.  Andrea Gohl  said that the Botanic Gardens will be the location of an  environmental education plot and children will be involved in activities such as tree identification, bird watching, construction of a herbarium and such  others  which help them appreciate connections with  the natural world they may not get  to experience in their normal day to day lives.
The resource persons for  the  Environmental Education (EE) programme will include persons from the NPC, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Horticultural Society of Guyana (HSG) and the Amazon Bird Society.
The children, who Gohl describes as the future stewards of the environment,  will be exposed to  environmental issues and the impact of certain activities on the environment ..
The Camp will cover a variety of field trips  and  different environmental experiences, offering an exciting opportunity for continued education outside of the school year.
The first Camp caters for children between the ages of ten and thirteen and begins next Monday lasting up to August 12 from 8:30 hrs  to 15:00 hrs daily and the base is the Jenman Education Center (JEC)  in the Botanical Gardens.
The JEC  will also be the venue for the second Camp to be held for children aged six to nine from August 15th to 19th. 
Parents and guardians of children who want to participate in these Camps can contact Andrea Gohl at the National Park, Thomas Lands, Georgetown, 225-8016.

The cost for participation in  each  camp is $1,500 per child and participants  need to walk with lunch and a small snack for ‘snack time’.

On the Friday, the last day  of each Camp, there will be a small Graduation Ceremony for the participants of that week.  Children’s  parents and/or guardians are invited to attend.  The Graduation will be held at 15:00 hrs. 

Attendants may bring a snack to share at the graduation but this is  not obligatory, Gohl said.