- World’s youngest green activist, aged 9, will be making a keynote speech
- Event is supported by UN initiative UN CC:Learn and Expo 2020 Dubai
- Over 40 schools around world will participate in the two-day virtual summit
Dubai, UAE: GEMS Education, the world’s leading private education provider, is hosting the world’s first Schools Conference of Parties Expo (SCOPE), focused on children driving sustainability and climate change on 24-25 October 2020.
SCOPE will be an inter-school forum of student voices and action against climate change, uniting schools and young people from all corners of the world, including India, Costa Rica and Australia, as they collaborate and discuss the pertinent issues of climate change across the globe. The two-day event will empower students to explore solutions, and use their creativity to express their passions and concerns about climate change.
Hosted and led by GEMS Kindergarten Starters (KGS), 40 schools worldwide are registered to participate. The event is supported The One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership (UN CC:Learn) and Expo 2020 Dubai, the next World Expo to be held in Dubai in 2021.
Special guests in attendance include the world’s youngest green activist Licypriya Kangujam. The nine-year-old is founder of The Child Movement and will be joined by 16-year-old Leah Namugerwa, an environmental activist from Uganda who, inspired by Greta Thunberg, has led student protests for climate change. The two activists will be supported by Melanie Harwood, co-founder of Harwood Education and eduCCate Global; Niclas Svenningsen, Manager – United Nations Climate Change, Global Climate Action; Angus Mackay, director at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); and Dino Varkey, GEMS CEO, to name a few.
Asha Alexander, Principal/CEO of The Kindergarten Starters (KGS), said: “Climate change is one of the biggest threats to our existence as a species and it is young people who are the future. SCOPE is an opportunity for young people all over the world to unite and help create the change they want to see.”
Kifa Bukhari, grade 3 student environmental activist at The Kindergarten Starters, said: “Our planet is suffering and we can’t ignore it any more. We can all contribute to creating a more sustainable society from the youngest to the oldest – just by planting a tree, we plant a legacy.”
KGS has a long record of commitment to environmental issues and sustainability and leads the way globally in environmental education and climate literacy. It is also the first school in the world where every teacher in every classroom is an accredited eduCCAte Global climate change teacher.
About GEMS Education
GEMS Education is one of the world’s oldest and largest K-12 private education providers. It is a highly regarded choice for quality private education in the Middle East and North Africa region. As a company founded in the UAE in 1959, it holds an unparalleled track record of providing diverse curricula and educational choices to all socio-economic means. GEMS Education now owns and operates 63 schools and educates over 130,000 students in the MENA region; and through its growing network of schools as well as charitable contributions is fulfilling the founder’s vision of putting a quality education within the reach of every child.
