Ankara Eco-Schools 11th Painting and Photography Exhibition Opened in Ankara on 15 April
The 11th Ankara Eco-Schools Painting and Photography Exhibition, themed “My Nature Story” this year, took place at the Nazım Hikmet Cultural Centre (Yenimahalle) on 15–16 April 2025.
The exhibition was officially opened at 11:00 on Tuesday, 15 April, and was visited by nature enthusiasts throughout both days. A total of 45 Eco-Schools were represented at the event, where the artwork of students from Ankara’s Eco-Schools was showcased.
Assoc. Prof. Abdulkadir Ateş, President of the Foundation for Environmental Education in Türkiye and former Minister of Tourism, shared his thoughts on the occasion:
“Since our establishment in 1993 as the Foundation for Environmental Education in Türkiye, we have conducted all our activities with the aim of leaving a better world for children. We believed that the activities carried out in schools under the Eco-Schools programme, one of our educational initiatives, should not remain confined to school walls. We have therefore placed great importance on collective Eco-School activities that promote broader environmental awareness.
The work of Ankara’s Eco-Schools held special significance for us within the scope of these collective efforts. Our traditional Ankara Eco-Schools Painting and Photography Exhibition was one such initiative, and we were delighted to have held it for the eleventh consecutive year.
I hope that activities such as these, which bring Eco-Schools together, serve as an example to others. I congratulate all our students who drew and photographed their own nature stories, as well as the Eco-School coordinator teachers who supported them.”
The Eco-Schools Programme, currently implemented in over 51,000 schools across 101 countries, has been active in kindergartens, primary and secondary schools in Türkiye since 1995, under the coordination of the Turkish Environmental Education Foundation. A total of 1,236 environmental schools throughout Türkiye—and 116 in Ankara alone—participated in the programme, which sought to cultivate environmental awareness among children.
The Ankara Eco-Schools Painting and Photography Exhibition, which adopts a different theme each year, brought together environmentally-conscious teachers and students, offering a reflection of students’ perspectives on nature and helping to raise awareness.
