Former FEE President, Jan Eriksen, was invited by our member organisation, Keep St Petersburg Tidy, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the FEE Eco-Schools programme in Russia earlier this month. During his stay, he conducted a presentation during an Eco-Schools event, which numerous schools and kindergartens attended and participated in the Green Flag awarding ceremony.

Furthermore, he attended a conference chaired by a representative from the St Petersburg Educational Department about Environmental Education, Eco-Schools, and an Austrian financed Environmental Education programme. Following this, Jan Eriksen travelled to Irkutsk where he met the team responsible for the Eco-Schools programme and visited the centre for educational facilities for outdoor activities.

He also headed north of Irkutsk in order to give a presentation about the Eco-Schools programme, as well as to visit a kindergarten, where he was impressed by the institution’s extraordinary recycling scheme which included endless facilities at the playground made out of every material, from plastic containers to tyres. All 27 staff of the kindergarten gathered that Sunday to celebrate the award of their Eco-Schools Green Flag.

The FEE former President also visited Ulan-Ude in the Burijat region where he joined students and teachers from the Cadet School as they celebrated their Eco-Schools Green Flag. Jan also found time to visit an orphanage in Tahoy where he presented them with the Eco-Schools Green Flag at the award ceremony.

Jan Eriksen commented that the Eco-Schools programme in Russia took some time to grow, but the work and the engagement is enormous today.