In today’s fast-paced world, children face numerous challenges from their earliest school days – from building friendships and expressing emotions to resolving conflicts and making decisions. This is precisely why life skills development programs are becoming an essential part of education. These programs help children better understand themselves and others, develop emotional literacy, strengthen self-confidence, and acquire important social skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.
During the 2024/2025 school year, an additional 32 teachers were trained to implement the Growing Up Together program, bringing the total number of educated and certified teachers to 64 who are qualified to carry out the program in primary schools.
In the workshops conducted by teachers over the past school year, a total of 1,215 students from grades I to IV participated, coming from 13 primary schools in Canton Sarajevo (The full list of schools where the program is implemented is available here).
The implementation of the program is overseen by the Association for Addiction Prevention NARKO-NE, which regularly conducts monitoring visits, speaks with teachers about challenges and needs in implementation, and provides support with the aim of improving program delivery.
At the end of the program cycle, an evaluation workshop was organized with the teachers, and the feedback was extremely positive. Teachers emphasize that children gladly participate in the workshops, feel freer to express their opinions and emotions, and that the program strengthens empathy, self-confidence, and mutual understanding among students.
Some selected comments from the evaluations:
Through the program, children get to know each other better and develop empathy, which is extremely important in early development.
Children express their thoughts and emotions more clearly and without fear.
The program strengthens self-esteem, and setting rules in the first workshops facilitates further work, as children remain consistent and disciplined.
Teachers also highlight that the program integrates easily into the school curriculum. It allows flexibility in implementation, as it can be combined with various teaching units and subjects. In addition, thanks to pre-prepared materials and clearly structured workshops, the program is easy to deliver while simultaneously contributing to children’s psycho-physical well-being.
Teachers who participated in the program expressed their desire to continue its implementation in the next school year. The program is planned to continue in primary schools in Canton Sarajevo, and a pilot phase of implementation is also planned in Tuzla Canton.
Azra Halilović
