The security of storage facility of the national army of the Republic of Moldova was strengthened with EU support

The event "Sexuality education - nothing special" brought together over 70 pupils, who had attended the comprehensive sexuality education course, teachers and directors of the Vanatori Gymnasium and "Spiru Haret" Lyceum, representatives of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ministry of Education.

The initiative of piloting the sexuality education course was born after Y-PEER consulted 1,100 young people from Moldova. As a result, 1,011 young people said they need sexuality education in schools.

The Y-PEER trainers piloted the comprehensive sexuality education course in the 8th and 9th grades in the Vanatori village Gymnasium, Nisporeni district, and "Spiru Haret" Lyceum from Chisinau during one semester, from September to December 2016. This initiative aimed at providing systematic and structured access of young people to reliable information and age and needs appropriate information.

As a result of this course, the students improved their knowledge regarding their sexual and reproductive health. The knowledge tests, conducted in September and December, show that more than half of young people know which the main methods of contraception are, know the signs of pregnancy, how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections, and to whom to address in case if they have sexual and reproductive health issues.

Rita Columbia, the UNFPA Representative in Moldova, provoked the young people to participate in a challenge to become the promoters of change in Moldova and to unite their voices to demand sexuality education in school. "You have the power to ensure that other young people get access and profit from the knowledge you have acquired during the last semester, and that will be very useful to make healthy choices and make decisions without risks", underlined Rita Columbia.

"I hope that the Ministry of Education will support the initiative to include the sexuality education in schools, because we are facing major problems. Many parents life for better work abroad and the children who do not get adequate sexuality education, adjusted to their needs and age, are left to overcome all challenges by themselves", said Larisa Gheorghica, Director of Vanatori Gymnasium.

The majority of young people said that they learned during the sexuality education course how to communicate better and build interpersonal relations, about personal hygiene, changes in girls and boys bodies at the age of adolescence, what are methods to prevent sexually transmitted infections, what are the main contraception methods etc. They said they had a better relationship with colleagues and that they want more sexuality education hours in school.