Mei Ng, head of a Hong Kong-based non-governmental environment organization, could not help giving great praise after she had attended a class on the relationship between snake and crops in a primary school in the remote countryside of southwest of China.

The director of "Friends of the Earth" and also a winner of a global environmental protection prize, granted by the United Nations, recently visited the Xiantao Primary School in the north of Chongqing Municipality to start her investigation on China's environmental education.

When she came into a classroom, a local teacher was explaining the contributions snakes make to plants. The teacher elaborated on a range of knowledge including biodiversity protection, harms to soil by organic fertilizers and the pollution caused by the burning of coal and firewood.

The students listened to him attentively and raised questions now and then. Soon, a 45-minute class passed.

Deng Xichuan, a boy in the class, led Mei Ng to his family. His grandfather told Mei Ng that recently they had used the kitchen range burning marsh gas made from the excrement of animals to replace burning firewood because of his grandson's suggestion, and it was more clean, convenient and economical.

In fact, the 60-year-old grandfather is also the beneficiary of the primary school's environmental protection education, for he often attends the lectures given by the school especially for increasing the consciousness of environmental protection of the grown-ups.

After the class, the grandfather and grandson made an account. They said by using marsh gas, they can not only purify the air, but also save three tons of coal, valued 900 yuan (about US$109). And using farmyard manure instead of organic fertilizer can protect soil and improve the yield of crops as well.

What impressed Ng most is the students' courage to use their knowledge of ecological protection to influence grown-ups, and even the local government.

Two years ago, students in grade four of this school made an investigation on the water quality of the river running through the village. Under the microscope, they found a lot of pollutants in the water sample.

So they wrote a letter, called "Improving Environment of Our Mother River" to the local government. The government was moved by the fact and sincerity of the letter, and decided to raise over 20 million yuan (US$2.41 million) to build a large-scale sewage farm.

Since the late 1970s, China has developed rapidly on the way to modernization. Despite the rapid progress, ecological protection was ignored, and the cost was enormous. China has become one of the most polluted countries in the world.

Fortunately, consciousness of ecological protection has been deeply rooted in people, especially in the youth's hearts. To be the "green angel" and build "green schools" have been the aims of efforts of many students and schools.

Many schools have given optional courses on ecological protection, and the concept of ecological protection has infiltrated into many courses. At the same time, such kind of education in combination with agricultural production has burgeoned in primary schools in rural areas.

A national survey showed that awareness of ecological protection of primary and middle school students in China is much stronger than their parents.

(People's Daily 07/07/2001)