Aqaba, Sept. 29 (Petra) -- Commissioner for Environment and Public Safety Affairs at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Nedal Al-Ouran on Tuesday honored the marine environmental protection clubs for the 2025/2026 academic year at the Aqaba Marine Reserve Visitor Center.

The clubs were implemented by the reserve in cooperation with the Aqaba Directorate of Education, with the participation of 18 schools, around 600 male and female students, and 36 male and female supervisors.

Al-Ouran said investing in students' awareness constitutes a fundamental pillar of efforts to protect the marine environment, stressing the importance of partnership with the education sector in building a generation aware of the value of natural resources in the Gulf of Aqaba and capable of translating environmental knowledge into behavior, initiatives, and practical practices.

He added that the marine environmental protection clubs program embodies a participatory approach to environmental awareness by involving students and supervisors in continuous activities and providing tools and content that help schools implement environmental initiatives suited to their environment and students' needs.

For his part, Aqaba Marine Reserve Director Nasser Al-Zawaideh said the program focuses on empowering school clubs and providing them with the knowledge and tools needed to carry out sustained environmental activities, noting that the reserve trained 36 male and female supervisors and provided a package of educational and interactive materials that supported the clubs' work throughout the academic year.

He explained that documentation and evaluation results showed 17 clubs implemented five or more activities, while six clubs carried out more than 15 activities, alongside documentation of 63 participations or links via social media, reflecting the broad scope of interaction with the program.

Al-Zawaideh noted that the program included lectures, educational games, competitions, challenges, artwork, environmental exhibitions, and recycling activities, as well as school radio broadcasts, visits to the reserve's visitor center, participation in environmental occasions and days, and use of the "Because It Is Our Sea" platform to provide awareness and educational content.

He noted that the evaluation results from male and female supervisors showed a high rating for the program's performance, with all 18 supervisors rating the reserve's role and club coordinators as excellent, while 15 of them rated the level of interaction with the reserve as high; the same number believed the program's environmental and awareness impact was strong and clear, and 17 supervisors reported that the clubs achieved a high or full level of performance.

Al-Zawaideh pointed out that the reserve prepared 30 proposed environmental radio messages on the marine environment, coral reefs, marine organisms, and ways to protect them, aiming to enhance students' role in conveying environmental messages to their peers and turning them from recipients of information into participants in spreading it.

The ceremony included a presentation of the program's key stages and outputs, a film documenting some of the clubs' experiences and the activities carried out by the schools, and the honoring of participating schools, supervisors, and supervisors in appreciation of their efforts.

//Petra// AF

29/09/2026 22:30:49