Peer-to-peer education programmes—where teenagers receive information on topics considered “sensitive” from people their own age—are gaining increasing traction in Bucharest’s high schools. The Zi de Bine Association has expanded projects built around this model of communication and now holds regular discussions with students in twelve Bucharest high schools. The association’s founder, Melania Medeleanu, explained on Friday on Medika TV which topics currently concern teenagers in the Capital during these sessions run by Zi de Bine.

Grouped under the name KIT—short for Keep in Touch, Keep it Together and Keep it True—the activities carried out by Zi de Bine have expanded from six high schools in Bucharest last year to twelve this year.

“We are now in 12 Bucharest high schools where we talk to children month after month, week after week, about what concerns them. And what concerns them is very different this year compared to last year. If last year we talked a lot about depression, anxiety and social pressure, this year we talk quite a lot about bullying, about relationships with family, about relationships with school. A programme like this can only take shape by working together with the children—we cannot impose topics on them. Instead, we ask them what concerns them, so that we can actually support them,” Melania Medeleanu explained on Friday evening on Medika TV.

Peer-to-peer education programmes are based on the idea that young people tend to reject authority figures, while being far more receptive to information that comes from their peers. In this context, issues relevant to adolescents are addressed in discussions led by students themselves.

“What was particularly interesting? We had a young boy—rather chubby, a bit lisping—the kind of child who would typically be a target for bullying. And to see him, two weeks ago, standing in front of another hundred teenagers, head held high, talking to them about stages of brain development in adolescence—what neural pathways are developing now, which habits, if reinforced at this stage, can shape our path as adults—to hear him explaining things that many adults don’t even know, was fascinating. What else was he doing? And this, again, was remarkable and something many adults don’t do. He said ‘I don’t know’ whenever he felt a question went beyond his competence, and he turned to the professional who had the answers. And a hundred ninth- and tenth-grade students were watching him, completely captivated. That was the sign that peer-to-peer education works—that yes, children will pay attention when information comes from people like them, of the same age, closer to their world, who know how to put things into words in a way that teenagers understand,” Melania Medeleanu also recounted on the medical television channel.

Written by News.ro |