Got together in Chisinau, teachers from different regions of the country discussed the online safety of children

On 29 April, 35 teachers from different regions of the country met at a workshop to discuss and share good practices in the community “Intersection. Safe Zone Online”, where they could share the experiences that they had had with their students during activities dedicated to Safer Internet Day.

Opening the event, Veronica Maevschi, director of the children’s program of the International Center La Strada, said that it had become a beautiful tradition to annually bring together secondary school teachers from different parts of the country in order to discuss and analyze the results and challenges of holding Safer Internet Day in February.

According to her, La Strada has been carrying out activities to raise awareness and educate safe behaviors online for years, to make sure that every child can have a positive online experience and is able to deal with the risks that may arise, and the SigurOnline team of the organization regularly carries out initiatives aimed at promoting the online safety of children and adolescents.

Angela Prisăcaru, representative of the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova, thanked La Strada for the lasting and constant partnership in organizing events and activities for children and teachers. She reiterated continued support for them.

Since 2019, on the occasion of Safer Internet Day, in February, teachers from all over the country are involved in various activities as part of the annual contest “Together for a Better Internet”, launched in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Research. The purpose of this year’s edition was to mobilize the school community to promote messages regarding the online safety of children through various information and awareness activities.

The participants of the contest were 44 children, accompanied by teachers from 10 lyceums from the districts of Basarabeasca, Anenii Noi, Cahul, Causeni, Soroca, Ungheni, Telenesti, Criuleni, Rezina and Nisporeni. This year the contest had a new concept, with students involved in activities under the guidance of teachers. The contest was organized in the format of an ideathon with several stages, during which the children identified new ideas and solutions for an existing online safety problem in their schools.

The workshop with discussion and exchange of best practices in the community “Intersection. Safe Zone Online” is an opportunity for teachers to share their experience of organizing the contest, the problems and solutions they found together with their students, as well as to take over the best practices from each other. It is a useful platform for discussion and exchange of best practices between teachers from different regions of the country. Teachers also discussed their concerns regarding the needs of children who are going through a situation of online sexual abuse.

The International Center La Strada Moldova started the program of activities for teachers and educational institutions “Intersection. Safe Zone Online” in 2018, aiming to support the educational system in promoting the online safety of children and young people. One of the activities planned under the program is the workshop for discussion and exchange of good practices in the community “Intersection. Safe Zone Online”.

Safer Internet Day is celebrated every February under the slogan “Together for a better internet”. Safer Internet Day (SID) is an annual online safety awareness campaign aimed at engaging key stakeholders from the public and private sector to promote the safe and responsible use of online and mobile technologies. Safer Internet Day has become a landmark event in the calendar of activities dedicated to online safety worldwide. In 2019, La Strada became the official national representative of the SID initiative. With the activities carried out under this initiative, 1,121 teachers informed 16,087 children and 6,446 parents.