KELAUT, which stands for Kelas Alam dan Laut (Nature and Marine Class) is the latest activity under our marine conservation program that educates schoolchildren in Anambas villages. Education is important in conservation, especially for kids who live in remote areas like Kiabu Village that is located far from the regional capital and has limited educational opportunities and little access to electricity and internet connection as well.
The low level of education directly correlates to limited knowledge regarding conservation and preservation of their environment. In the village, it’s common to see some of the people living here consume turtle eggs, throw their trash into the ocean and even use corals to build their houses.
This is what prompted us, together with LKKPN (National Marine Conservation Area) Pekanbaru, to initiate KELAUT. It is an extracurricular activity for students to learn about marine ecosystems, protected marine creatures, marine debris and conservation issues through interactive learning.
The inaugural KELAUT class was held in early November of this year, a total of 40 middle school students attended the event that began at eight in the morning. The event started with an introduction of the Anambas Foundation, our team and work, and continued with a presentation on marine ecosystems, protected marine animals and waste issues in the oceans. The event lasted for an hour, to close the event we had a quiz time with the students and to make it more interesting we offered gifts for those who could answer the question correctly.
The activity was well-received both by the students and teachers, the school’s headmistress ibu Leni told us: “This activity has a good impact on students, especially seeing the young people working at the Anambas Foundation who they can look up to. The topics presented are very related to the current situation in Kiabu as well, so students can easily understand them. Moreover, the presentation also helps the teachers in improving their teaching materials.”
With the success of the first KELAUT activity, we are going to have another by the end of this year for elementary school students and this time we will have more exciting games and quizzes for the kids. By next year, we are planning to have more KELAUT events not just in Kiabu, but on other islands of the Anambas as well.