Doha College was the first school in Qatar to be awarded an Eco-Schools Green Flag from the Foundation for Environmental Education in 2016, following a rigorous inspection which looked into all its sustainable initiatives and projects.

Continuing this commitment, and in line with Qatar’s prioritisation of environmental preservation, the EcoSchool Committee at Doha College ran an ‘Ocean Awareness Month’ this January to promote awareness of the vast amount of plastic waste being dumped into the ocean, and the growing crisis surrounding the practice.

Doha College Ocean Awareness Month

Throughout the month of January, the Secondary school highlighted these issues by organising topical activities:

Eco-School assemblies
Plastics in the Ocean – Fact of the Day
Screening of ‘Blue Planet II’
Beach clean-up trip
Cooking with sustainable locally-sourced fish in the ‘Cooking Club’
Screening of ‘A Plastic Tide’ (Sky News) 
Kayaking at the Al Thakira Mangroves 
‘Plastics in the Ocean’ presentation at DC’s CCI Legacy Talks
Art department Enrichment Day, where Year 7 students created sea-life models from plastic waste
Plastic-free day in the tuck shop

Doha College Ocean Awareness 1 Doha College Ocean Awareness 1

The Primary school had the privilege of hosting talks from guest marine biologists and ocean specialists Dr Jessica Bouwmeester, Dr Aspa Dr Chatziefthimiou, Dr Greta Aeby and Jonathan Wright. They spoke to fascinated students about local sea habitats, and students were surprised to learn that Qatar has the second largest population of dugongs in the world.

The environmental awareness mind-set fostered at Doha College fits in with Qatar’s commitment to its international responsibilities. Government initiatives being implemented in Doha, such as plans to address urban water tables, creating a biodiversity database, and the air quality monitoring programme, will hopefully turn the city into a laboratory for environmental innovation.

You can follow the school’s environmental work within the community on its dedicated Twitter account at @DCEcoSchool.