Joint efforts to fight school-related violence: UNESCO IITE supports an integrated project in the Republic of Moldova

In the mid of November, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova hosted an expert session to discuss school-related violence prevention. This was a kick-off for a series of seminars targeted at teachers and social service specialists facing the challenges of school-related bullying and aggression. The participants have been presented with the newly published materials: a local Legislation Digest “How to protect a child from school-related violence” and a Practical Manual “Violence prevention in educational setting”.

The Manual suggests a practical toolkit for teachers to prevent violence as well as a methodology for early identification and proper response to cases of violence. Recommendations how to provide counselling and support to all participants of a conflict situation are made in full compliance with the local legislation. The Manual also provides tips and tricks on eliminating discrimination against students and teachers living with or affected by HIV.

The Manual and the Digest have been prepared jointly by the Republican Ministry of Education, Culture and Research and the Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre (CIDDC), Kishinev State Pedagogical University and “Save our Children” international organization with the support of UNESCO Institute for Informational Technologies in Education (IITE).

Monica Babuc, Minister of Education, Culture and Research of Republic of Moldova says: «Any teacher, any parent, any social service specialist, any NGO expert should have full access to legislative base to actively use it when dealing with cases of violence. We present these materials to make sure that they are always available. We believe they will be highly helpful”.

Iosif Moldovanu, executive director for the Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre (CIDDC): «According to a recent research, over a third of Moldovan adolescents (36,7%) have participated in a fighting within a year. Victimization and bullying are a common practice in schools: 4 out of 10 adolescents have taken part in aggressive actions against their fellow mates. Intimidation (most often written) has been practiced by every 10th pupil. We work to change this situation and make sure that school is a safe place where children are protected from any type of violence or discrimination and have an opportunity to address a trusted adult for support”.

Tigran Yepoyan, UNESCO regional advisor on HIV and health education says: “These materials are yet another step among many other efforts undertaken over the past years by the Ministry of Education and CIDDC to protect children from school- and home-related violence. We in UNESCO are very much inspired by our joint work on preparation of these materials, specifically the Manual that has accumulated many of recommendations from the 2016 UN Women and UNESCO “Global Guidance on Addressing School-related Gender-based Violence”.

By the end of 2017, all schools in the Republic of Moldova will get the Manuals and Digests in Romanian and Russian languages. It is also planned that school heads and child protection coordinators in different regions of the country will get trained on the issues of child protection.

Read more about СIDDC

The Guide “Violence prevention in educational setting” is available in Russian and Romanian.

The Legislation Digest “How to protect a child from school-related violence” is available in Russian and Romanian.

The photos used in this article are taken from the website of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova.

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