Addressing a Press conference, Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary-General of the Environment Agency in Abu Dhabi, said that about 1,25,000 students from government and private schools in five emirates participated in the programme in the last academic year 2004-05.

Al Mansouri said that about 73,000 male and female students of 338 schools located in Abu Dhabi participated in the programme last year.

He stressed that the Enviro-Spellathon was considered one of the successful programmes since its first launch in 2001. He said the programme would help enhancing information related to the local environment. He called on the agencies concerned in Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah to adopt the programme in cooperation with the Environment Agency.

Meanwhile, Dr Mohammed Al Dafrawy said the Shell company was proud to play a role in raising the environmental awareness among young students.

"Shell is very much aware of the influence of the environmental issues on our lives," he said. He underlined the importance of the awareness programme, as it will help increase the awareness of the students.

Mohammed Salim Al Dhahiri, Director of Abu Dhabi Education Zone, stated on behalf of Khalid Al Abri, Head of Educational Affairs Department at Abu Dhabi Education Zone, that the education zone believes in the importance of the environmental work. This programme, he said, resulted from the active and conscious cooperation between Abu Dhabi Education Zone and the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi, which started years ago. This programme was developed to become a part of the educational zone's plan, he noted.