Health education is an optional discipline containing 7-9 modules, including hygiene, nutrition, life without violence, sports, reproductive health, mental health. About 10% of adolescents from Moldova are studying this discipline at the moment. The teaching materials of this course have been updated with UNFPA support and contains age appropriate and culturally sensitive information.

According to Oxana Draguţa, Project Manager at Pro Didactica Educational Centre, two of the seven modules of “Health Education” have been digitalized so far, meaning that the tasks have been transferred online and allow the students to create videos, learn new ideas through puzzle games, make digital posters etc. The digitalization project is at the pilot phase and runs in collaboration with Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, with UNFPA support.

  "If the experience will turn to be successful, we plan to transfer the full content of Health Education discipline online," said Draguţa.

The first 22 teachers from 5 districts of Moldova have been trained by Pro Didactica to use the digital content of the discipline, within a training organized in Chisinau on 17-18 May. The teachers learned how to use various educational tools and free applications that help them make health education lessons more interactive and appealing for young people.

Silvia Apostol, a biology and health education teacher from Cuizăuca village, Rezina, said she has been using an online application for a long time to make the lessons more interesting for young people. "At my lessons, pupils come with mobile phones and tablets, which they use for learning purposes," she said.

"The digitalization of the course aims to make it more attractive and closer to the needs and interests of the young generation. Technologies also come to help teachers, whom we encourage to use it, because they offer many opportunities for social interaction in the group and closer cooperation with pupils," said Ludmila Sîrbu, Youth Program Analyst at UNFPA Moldova.

The activities are organized within the project "Promoting youth health education", carried out by UNFPA Moldova in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, with financial support of the Embassy of the Netherlands.