Agreement signed to draw UJ students to environmental community service

AMMAN — The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) on Sunday signed an agreement with the University of Jordan to include students from the faculty of foreign languages in the group's activities supporting the local environment and Jordanian farmers. 

During the signing ceremony, APN General Manager Mariam Aljaajaa said that the agreement is the “first of its kind” and that it is signed in an attempt to institutionalise the work between the APN and the university's faculties, noting that the students' work will count as community service. 

Under the agreement, workshops and discussions will be held on campus to increase students' environmental awareness, under a programme named "If you knew". 

"Volunteerism is at the core of our work, focusing especially on young people, and increasing their awareness helps improve the future," Aljaajaa told The Jordan Times over the phone on Monday. 

Aljaajaa said that the faculty of foreign languages is “only the beginning”, with plans to cooperate with all faculties in the future. 

"Our aim is to have students think of a way that makes them productive and active in their communities, as well as ideas for protecting the land and agriculture in any way they can," she said, noting that foreign language students can help a lot to express such sentiments and work on research on local agricultural matters.

"Many students from the faculty were already actively working with us, and language students can usually express themselves well, which helps to kick off the work," the APN general manager said.