Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for environmental protection, visited, on the sidelines of the GOI Peace International Award Ceremony, the Omori 6th Junior High School on the 22nd of November 2018 in Tokyo.
The Omori school, located in Ota City; one of the 23 municipalities in Tokyo, has 398 children between 12 and 15 years old and 21 teachers. It is a brilliant school associated to UNESCO since 2011, as it received several awards such as: the best UNESCO sustainable development education project (2012), the sustainable institution from the Japanese ministry of national education (2016), the engaged school in the whole institutional approach from UNESCO (2016).
Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa was welcomed into the school gymnasium by almost 400 children of Omori School who offered Her, as a warm welcome, a selection from the Japanese culture: martial arts, calligraphy and dance. She then learned with undisguised curiosity and attention about the activities they are doing as part of their Education for Sustainable Development.
She learned that Omori students are involved in the maintenance of green spaces at Ookayama Station in front of their school, and that with adult volunteers, they clean up weeds and maintain flower beds. She became interested in the climbing plants that they grow as green curtains above the windows of the school to protect them naturally from the sun.
She also learned about their involvement in the conservation of the nearby Senzoku-Ike Park, where they helped fireflies, a small insect whose population had disappeared, settle and grow. Every day from October to June, the students go to the park with the Yokohama Firefly Association to take care of this element of biodiversity.
Finally, Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa appreciated how they learn to reduce food losses, receive education to combat disasters and understand the international world in which they live, and thus contribute to peace.
Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa was moved by the song of peace, an original song written by the students and composed by the teachers, which they sang in front of Her, before offering Her a present as a sign of gratitude for Her coming.
Her Royal Highness expressed her real emotion and gratitude for this visit, which will help advance a twinning project between Omori School in Tokyo and Rabat Green Belt Eco-School.