Alliance Française Holds Summit For Students, Seeks Environmental Safety

The Alliance Française, a non-profit institute in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has organised a summit for students to create awareness on environmental safety.

The institute said the summit became necessary to address questions such as non-carbon energy, food, transportation, and urban planning while proposing concrete solutions.

The program tagged, 'The Endless World', the Director of Alliance Française, Port Harcourt, Mrs Marina Lacal, said the exhibition was made possible by the French Embassy in Nigeria and the Institut Français, Paris, and anchored on a novel authored by a French environmentalist and his friend.

Lacal said: “This exhibition is made possible by the French Embassy in Nigeria and the Institut Français, Paris. The exhibition is about the book titled ‘Le Monde Sans Fin,’ which in French means ‘World Without End.’

“It (the book) was one of the best sellers in France in 2022, written by Jean-Marc Jancovici and Christophe Blain. Two aspects of the environment and most of the exhibition talks about energy, how we use it and how it can affect the planet and how to manage environmental challenges facing us.”

She explained the rationale behind inviting pupils and students to the exhibition, saying that the institute partners with schools, adding that it was an avenue to deliver some content for them to experience the French language.

She added, “It is a ritual in Alliance Française whenever we have exhibitions or events, we invite schools because we partner with them, we try to give them some content to experience the French language differently.

“So all the exhibition is mainly in French and there is a translation in English for those who want to look at it and don’t speak French.

"The exhibition aimed at giving some education support and to encourage them to learn French."

She said about 165 children and students from various schools in Rivers State registered for the show.

She averred that though the children were not fluent in French, they could pick some words and recognize some words from the panels' display.

Lacal noted that “the exhibition calls for action by addressing essential questions such as non-carbon energy, food, transportation, and urban planning while proposing concrete solutions.”