Uzbekistan initiated the pilot testing of
the "Zorbs" movie for primary level pupils jointly with UNODC in May 2018.
The movie is a tool under the UNODC Education for Justice (E4J) initiative, which is comprised of a series of cartoons promoting acceptance, fairness, integrity and respect. As of today, the movie was tested in a specialized school of the Mirzo-Ulugbek district in Tashkent city among pupils aged 9 to 12 years old.
Two 45-minute lessons were allocated for the screening of the movie where during the first lesson, children had an opportunity to get acquainted with the story of an imaginary planet and its inhabitants who overcome a range of challenges with the core values and skills promoted under E4J initiative. The second lesson was dedicated to the creation of a planet by the children through the online interactive Comic Creator software , which supports the Zorbs movie.
The students displayed great enthusiasm during the process of building their own planet, while expressing their excitement in being able to express their opinions and demonstrate the acquired values. After discussions, the students were divided into small teams and developed a variety of continuation scenarios of the Zorbs movie. Third grade students, which displayed the most excitement suggested their own paper versions of the movie using colourful pens and crayons. The main ideas of all these scenarios were - hospitality and friendship towards the Zorbs inhabitants who arrived to our planet. In total, 251 students participated in the piolet testing sessions.
Overall, this exercise showed that pupils need educational materials which can help them develop skills, such as conflict resolution, critical thinking, empathy and teamwork. In its turn, Ministry of Public Education highlighted that the E4J activities are essential to enhance the resilience of youth against crime and drugs, noting that "
The Zorbs movie raised intense discussions among pupils. They were eager to speak about their values and tried to evaluate their own behaviours." -said Mr. Boris Blyakher, Director of the pilot school.
Similarly, Fakhrinur, a 12 years old participant of the sessions noted:
" I liked this film. It teaches us a lot of essential things. If the whole population of the world would watch this film, they could stop small wars. I hope that the young generation will watch this film and understand that they should not envy and quarrel with each other. Friendship is needed in our life and can not only protect the whole population of our planet, but other civilizations as well. I liked the film and I am very glad that the UN organization uses this way to reconcile people and conserve peace in the world."
Andrey, another 9 years old movie testing participant noted:
"
I learned that we need to support each other in difficult situations. We should appreciate what we have. We are one family."
The E4J initiative is implemented under the Global Programme of Doha Declaration which was launched in many countries of the world in 2016. E4J aims to enhance the participants' knowledge on the rule of law from the earliest to the most advanced stages of education by developing special educational tools and materials to assist teachers at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels in imparting values, skills and knowledge to children and youth. Globally, a number of E4J products are already impacting youngsters at the primary school level.
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For more information
Please, contact Ms. Gulnar Kudaybergenova,
Training Associate, UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia
Tel: +998(71) 120-80-50 (ext.120)
e-mail: gulnar.kudaybergenova[at]un. org
