The phenomenon of bullying, leaving school or absenteeism of lessons was discussed on Friday, March 6, this year, at a round table in the Chisinau City Hall.

The event was attended by representatives of the Sweden commune, the Hanseatic League of Botswana and the Budesti commune of the Chisinau municipality, which for three years have been implementing a joint international project to prevent and combat bullying in educational institutions.

The mayor of the Budesti commune, Nina Costiuc, mentioned that thanks to this project, the number of absenteeism and dropouts from the suburbs schools has decreased significantly.

In her turn, the deputy mayor of Chisinau, Angela Cutasevici, discussed with the abroad administration's representatives about the possibilities of collaboration in the future, mentioning that the phenomenon of bullying and school absenteeism is a global problem. "All the children are important, regardless of their ethnicity or the country in which they live. I hope that the Budesti commune will become a methodological municipal center to combat this phenomenon, and the experience of this suburb can be adopted by local residents from the country and from abroad too." said Angela Cutasevici.

In this context, representatives of Sweden noted that the methods of working with students are different in different countries, but the love with which students from the Republic of Moldova are treated can be a good example for them.

For guests of Botswana, a visit to Chisinau also provided an opportunity to get acquainted with the best practices in organizing the educational process.

"It's impressive that you are promoting the idea - for the education of one child you need a whole state. We see that the whole community is involved in the fight against this phenomenon: teachers, doctors, police, mayors. We are impressed by the quality of management we saw here." concluded Thato Tshwenezagae, Chairman of the Hanseatic District Council of Botswana.

We mention that the International Project for the Prevention of Bullying in Educational Institutions is part of the global objective on the right to education, but also the objective of ensuring good governance and is based on a trilateral partnership, implemented by 3 communes.

The project is funded by the Stockholm International Center for Local Democracy (ICLD).