Manual to teach secondary students mangrove conservation handed over

The mangrove secretariat continues to spread its message to conserve and protect the tropical specie and yesterday the body presented a copy of a mangrove teacher’s manual which will be utilized in the secondary school curriculum to the Agriculture Ministry.

The secretariat presented a copy of the document to Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud at the ministry’s boardroom on Regent Road yesterday.

According to chair of the mangrove action committee, Annette Arjoon-Martins, the document is one in a series of initiatives being used by the secretariat to spread its message and to enable the secretariat to carry out its mandate.

She said it follows the completion of the overall management plan, an inventory which was recently completed by the secretariat in conjunction with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and a code of practice for mangrove management.

She said that 500 copies of the manual were produced and it was compiled by National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) in collaboration with Dr Phillip Silva and Michelle Kalamudeen of the University of Guyana.

Arjoon-Martins said the manual will be used by teachers to teach first to fifth form students across the country the value of conserving mangroves, facts on the specie and other pertinent aspects of mangrove conservation among other issues.

She said the manual will be beneficial to students, adding that she was hopeful that students will grab the “whole concept of the mangrove programme which is to restore and conserve”.