The action “Pilot project on digital citizenship education in Türkiye” aims to promote human rights, fundamental freedoms and democracy in schools by empowering students in their digital presence through digital citizenship education (DCE) at the lower secondary level in Türkiye. It proposes a series of complementary measures to introduce the concept of digital citizenship and its essential core competences, which are grouped under three clusters as being online, wellbeing online and it is my right with reference to the Digital Citizenship Education tools of Council of Europe in education institutions in Türkiye in consultation with key stakeholders and end beneficiaries.
This action is implemented within the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”, and it is running from 2023 until 2025.
What are the goals and objectives of the action?
- to support the efforts of the Ministry of National Education in adapting competences for democratic culture in the education system
- to promote human rights, fundamental freedoms and democracy in schools by empowering students in their digital presence through digital citizenship education (DCE) at the lower secondary level in Türkiye
Who benefits from the action?
- the Ministry of National Education of Türkiye
- the actors of the school community: students, teachers / educators, school administrators, parents and caregivers
How does the action work?
- by adapting Council of Europe’s DCE tools to Turkish Education System
- through capacity building activities for teachers and school administrators
- by initiating awareness raising activities and public discussions on DCE and its 10 domains
- by empowering students in their digital presence through video games and guiding materials
- it is complementing the achievements of the previously completed IPA II action “Strengthening Democratic Culture in Basic Education”
What do we expect to achieve?
- schools have established a culture of respect and promotion of human rights and democracy; students are empowered to exercise and defend their democratic rights and responsibilities in society, to value diversity and to play an active part in democratic life and the protection of rule of law
- education stakeholders both at the national and provincial levels including school principals and teachers have increased capacity on DCE, education for democratic citizenship and human rights education
- the capacity of lower-secondary school students to navigate in the online environment safely and responsibly, by building resilience to disinformation, misinformation and hate speech, and by contributing towards ensuring a healthy use of technology, is strengthened, with the goal of enhancing active participation of citizen
- the public and educational stakeholders have a better understanding of democracy, human rights, rule of law, digital citizenship and democratic school culture
What is the budget of the action?
The total budget of the action is 900 000 EUR.
The budget allocated to the overall Horizontal Facility programme amounts to ca. 41 million EUR (85% funded by the European Union, 15% by the Council of Europe).
How to get more information?
- Council of Europe: Digital Citizenship Education website
- Horizontal Facility website and e-mail address
About Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye
The “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” is a joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe that enables the Western Balkans Beneficiaries and Türkiye to meet their reform agendas in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy and to comply with the European standards, which is also a priority for the EU enlargement process.
