"My choice is to be Ok" is a program for scholars, developed with their direct participation. The program is in its second edition and aims to help adolescents and young people in the effective management of emotional states in the context of the challenges caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic, thus maintaining their mental health.
Launched at the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (MECC) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), in partnership with the Youth Media Center, the program will run in the period of November to December 2020.
According to Natalia Griu, Secretary of State on Education ‘The program “My choice is to be Ok” aims to help scholars to find solutions to the dilemmas and problems they face”.
Ludmila Sîrbu, Youth Program Analyst at UNFPA, explained that the novelty of the program is that young people are the one who establish the topics of discussion and not the specialists: “It is a program made by young people for young people. For UNFPA, the health of young people, including mental health, is a top priority".
The program includes 10 interactive videos. Each video material will include questions from scholars responded by various specialists: psychologists, education experts, IT specialists, other experts. The questions will be collected by the members of the General Education Students 'Council and the Technical Vocational Education Students' Council and will cover a wide range of topics. The first episode of the program contains questions of interest to young people, such as how the Baccalaureate exams or the 2021 Olympics will be organized.
Scholars from all over the country are invited to join the Facebook group "Aleg sa ma simt bine" where they can directly put questions to which they want to find answers.
The series of the 10 videos will be published weekly, every Saturday, at 12:00, on the Facebook page of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, on the Facebook page of the Media Center for Youth and UNFPA Moldova, as well as on the website https://tineri.md/. They will also be published on the portal Educatie Online, under the heading Psychologist's advice.
The first edition of the program "Aleg sa ma simt bine" took place between April and June 2020 and contains 24 LIVE sessions with psychologists Daniela Terzi-Barbăroșie and Sergiu Toma, as well as 24 videos on topics of interest to young people, which can be watched here.
The "My choice is to be Ok” emotional support program for students, along with similar support program for managers, teachers and parents, launched at the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research with the support of the UN Population Fund, is part of the response actions of UNFPA, part of the UN Moldova family, to the crisis caused by COVID-19. These actions aim to protect the rights and emotional well-being of students and teachers during the pandemic and to create a safe and conducive environment for education and youth development.
