HoltIS Association and UNICEF invite teachers and students to participate in the Romania’s largest lesson on bullying prevention in schools

Bucharest, April 29, 2024. The HoltIS Association and UNICEF in Romania invite teachers and students to participate in the National Lesson: Preventing Bullying in the school environment, organized on the "World Largest Lesson” model. Teachers can register starting from Monday, April 29, 2025, on the qie.ro platform.

The lesson, organized as part of the project "Consolidation of the national system of parental education programs for early child development in Play Learning and Parenting Hubs and other educational hubs" , with the financial support of the LEGO Foundation, focuses on increasing awareness and understanding of bullying among participating students, offering prevention and intervention strategies, thus promoting a safe and conducive school environment learning, based on communication and mutual support.

Teachers are invited to register by accessing the link https://www.qie.ro/stopbullying/  between April 29 and May 13, 2024. After registration, teachers will be able to download the learning materials and can organize, until May 22, a lesson with a group of minimum 10 students on this topic. Teachers can report the activity until May 26, 2024. Each participant who completes the entire process (from organizing the activity with students to reporting it on the platform) will receive a certificate of participation, in electronic format. The teaching materials are also available in Ukrainian.

"We invite Romanian teachers to join the growing community on the qie.ro platform, to download the teaching materials we have developed and to organize a lesson with the students on the topic of combating violence in schools. Bullying is a real problem in schools in Europe, including Romania, which must be discussed and addressed urgently. Among other things, children and teachers can learn, using the resources we make available, how to correctly identify situations of violence and where to find the necessary help in such situations", said Prof. Univ. Dr. Ștefan Cojocaru, President of the HoltIS Association.

According to an OECD report from 2018, Romania is one of the European countries with the highest level of bullying in schools. 12% of 15-year-olds declared that they were very frequently victims of bullying, well above the OECD average of 8%. Bullying also happens online: 47% of children and young people in Romania who responded to a global survey on the U-Report platform declared that they were victims of cyberbullying.

"Protecting children against all forms of violence is a fundamental right guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, children are unfortunately victims of violence every day, including in schools and other educational institutions, and this can have serious effects on children's mental and physical health, impacting Romanian and refugee children alike. The lesson we propose together with our partners will increase awareness among teachers and students, helping to reduce this phenomenon. We invite teachers and students to participate in as large a number as possible", said Jean-Benoit Manhes, Acting Representative of UNICEF in Romania.