Pet School Project
- The CSR project “Pet School – Learn about responsible pet care!” awarded in 2020 with GOLD by the Romanian Community Index 2020
Pet School is an extracurricular educational project launched and developed in Romania since 2019. Its main objective is to educate and inform primary school students and their families about responsible pet care. We believe that people and pets are better together. Pets enrich our lives, offer companionship, affection, an excuse to play together, and contribute to children’s well-being.
The two main characters of the project, Max the dog and Luna the cat, accompany pupils into the world of dogs and cats, providing them with useful information about their history, hygiene, language, health, superpowers, breeds, and how to behave around them.
The educational program was carried out in partnership with the School Inspectorate of Bucharest and the County School Inspectorates of Cluj, Prahova and Neamt counties, and the schools enrolled in the project. Pet School is made possible thanks to the support of Nestlé Romania – Purina, as a partner-sponsor.
Outstanding Results
During the five editions of Pet School, 39,300 primary school students, over 80,000 family members, and 1,484 teachers from 81 schools in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Turda, Roman, and Prahova County have benefited from free educational video materials, guides with information, and interactive games. With their help, students explored the world of pets alongside their teachers.
Over 1,500 thematic lessons were organized in schools. Based on the Pet School Guides, students were encouraged to participate in drawing and collage contests on the themes “The Fascinating World of Dogs and Cats” and “People, Dogs, and Cats, Much Better Together!”, which were very successful, as demonstrated by the over 9,500 creative works submitted. Since the 2020-2021 edition, the PRAIS Foundation team has developed a new activity: “A Day with My Dog or Cat!”, which was enthusiastically received – over 1,200 students sent images and written materials about and with their pets.
Project Impact Studies
The PRAIS Foundation team conducts an annual survey to evaluate the impact of the Pet School editions. In the 2023-2024 edition, according to the survey, 100% of the responding teachers considered that the project contributes to positively changing habits regarding responsible pet care.
Awards
The first edition of the Pet School project in Romania won GOLD in the animal protection category at the Community Index 2020, the first and only index of programs and projects run by companies in Romania that invest in communities.
