She said, pupils could be agents of change, and influence members of their society to adopt good environmental practices, if they shared the knowledge they had acquired in school on environmental hygiene with their parents and members of the community.

Ms Annang said this during an interaction with the pupils of the Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Basic School at Dansoman Last Stop, in Accra yesterday.

She said littering and indiscriminate dumping of waste could be nibbed in the bud if pupils educate their communities on the effects of such practice.

The programme under the theme “The Environment and You,” was organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) as part of its Citizenship Week celebration.

As part of the programme, the about 820 pupils who benefited from the programme recited the National Pledge and made strong commitment to keep the environment clean and not to litter or pollute the environment.

Among other things, the pupils called for a fine and arrest of individuals who litter the environment and also urged that the State and stakeholders to intensify education to educate the citizens on the need to keep the environment clean.

Ms Annang, who was the guest of honour, asked the pupils to desist from dumping waste into gutters, drains and on the street to keep the environment clean.

She said if the environment was clean, it would prevent them from diseases such as cholera, malaria, which were created through a dirty environment, adding that if they were affected by malaria they could not attend school.

The Managing Director of NTC commended the NCCE for the programme which was aimed at inculcating in the pupils the importance of keeping the environment clean.

The Civic Education Officer of NCCE, Irene D Minston-Amihere in an interview said the interaction with the pupils was the second phase of the Citizenship Week Celebration programme to be held in the school, indicating that the first phase which was held at the school was on tax education.

She said the Citizenship Week celebration was held annually and this year the NCCE was targeting about 10,000 basic schools across the country.

Mrs Minston-Amihere said the environment was chosen as the theme for the programme because poor sanitation was becoming a big challenge to the country.

To make the programme practical, she said the pupils were shown pictures depicting the effects of indiscriminate dumping of waste and pollution of the environment.

The head teacher of the Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Basic School, Mr Samuel Paul Amesawu said he was excited about the programme and its theme.

He said he was also impressed about the contributions and suggestions made by the pupils.

Mr Amesawu said the fight against environmental pollution could be won if the children were placed at the centre of the fight, since they could serve as influence on their society.

Some of the pupils who spoke to the Ghanaian Times said they were happy to have been granted the opportunity to interact with the Managing Director of NTC, Ms Annang and officials from the NCCE.

They said Ms Annang had inspired them to keep the environment clean and be vanguards of the environment.