By: Akua Oteng Amponsah
Madam Abena Birago Addo Kumi, Head of the English Department and Programs at Achimota Senior High School, has emphasized the need to educate parents on climate change to enable them to effectively support their children with homework and projects related to the subject.
According to Madam Kumi, students often struggle with assignments on climate change and environmental issues due to a lack of parental guidance.
Speaking at this year’s Green Tales competition organized by The Climate Sociologist Group at Achimota Senior High School, Madam Kumi stated, “I think that the scope of education on climate change should be leveled down to parents as well because students struggle anytime they’re given simple homework on essay writing about the environment or climate change. Doing so will help expand the education on awareness and the dangers we’re faced with as a result of climate change.”
The Green Tales competition, which celebrated culture, indigenous knowledge, artistic expression, literacy, and awareness creation on climate change, saw Labone Senior High School, Accra Girls, and Achimota Senior High School competing in various aspects of climate change, portraying their craft through cultural dance, drama, spoken words, literature pieces amongst other.
This year’s theme, “Sankofa,” was chosen to emphasize the importance of learning from the past to innovate the future.
Alvin Wenia, Project Coordinator of The Climate Sociologist, explained that the theme encourages participants to tap into their rich culture and literary stories, creating artistic viewpoints and raising awareness about climate change.
He expressed appreciation to sponsors and schools for their support and optimism about expanding the initiative to other regions, including Ashanti and Central, to broaden the knowledge span of climate change.
In the competition, Achimota Senior High School won both the Best Poet Award and Visual Artist but lost the overall crown to Labone Senior High School, which received several prizes, including a cash prize of 2,000 cedis.
Achimota Senior High school came in as the second place, winning a cash prize of 1,000 cedis and Accra girls came in 3rd.
Aaron Adatsi, a judge and star of the Yolo TV series, expressed concerns about the lack of in-depth knowledge about climate change and advocated for filmmakers to create content that incorporates climate change awareness.
“I think we need to start incorporating climate change in our movies, inasmuch as it may be a love story, because the environment will still be in the movie,” he stated.
Students from the participating schools expressed their joy and appreciation for the Green Tales initiative, which they said motivates them to study and learn more about climate change. They pledged to do better in the 2026 competition.
