Back Marking the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025: empowering learners for a safer and smarter online world

Marking the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025: empowering learners for a safer and smarter online world

Digital citizenship is no longer a future concept—it’s a present-day priority. In an increasingly connected world, knowing how to navigate the digital space responsibly has never been more crucial. To mark the European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025, the project “Prevent bullying and peer violence in schools in Serbia” brought together in Belgrade policymakers, representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organisations, as well as national and international experts and researchers, to highlight the importance of empowering learners to navigate the digital world responsibly, ethically, and effectively.

A video address by Villano Qiriazi, Head of the Council of Europe’s Education Department, set the tone for an afternoon of insightful discussions highlighting that digital citizenship is not a distant or abstract concept, but one shaped by our everyday actions, attitudes and values.

He introduced the audience to the targeted resources developed by the Council of Europe for parents and educators designed to help learners develop essential competences such as skills, values, attitudes, knowledge and critical understanding, needed to navigate the digital world more responsibly. Mr Qiriazi emphasized that mainstreaming digital citizenship education is a way to build resilience against bullying and violence and shape a digital space led by human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

The European Year of Digital Citizenship Education 2025 is a call to empower every learner with the ability to flourish in the digital era—not merely through competences, but also through values, knowledge, and a lasting sense of responsibility. It invites us to share resources, and to put digital citizenship precisely where it rightfully belongs - at the very centre of education, now and in the years to come.

This project is implemented by the Council of Europe and funded by Germany. It is carried out in co-operation with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Republic of Serbia from January 2024 to December 2025.


 

Belgrade 15 April 2025
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What is the objective of the project?

The project seeks to support the prevention of bullying and peer violence in schools in Serbia and strengthen safe school environment based on European standards and practices.


What are the key results?

1.    Education policy makers, institutions and professionals apply in practice the existing policy framework to prevent bullying and peer violence in schools

2.    Teachers and educational staff apply new knowledge and professional competences that better contribute to safe school environments


Who benefits from the project?

  • The Ministry of Education, the Institute for Improvement of Education, the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation and other education institutions
  • Primary and secondary schools in Serbia including teachers and school management, students, parents and their communities

 

How this will be achieved?

  • National assessments on the wellbeing of students, cyberbullying and other forms of violence to identify key areas for intervention
  • Policy recommendations to improve safe school environments through a participatory process involving major education stakeholders
  • Policy roadmaps outlining short-term, mid-term, and long-term actions to prevent bullying and peer violence in schools
  • Existing Council of Europe resources, tools and methodologies on preventing bullying and cyberbullying and peer violence tailored to the Serbian context and put in practice in the by relevant education institutions and professionals 


Project information

The project is implemented by the Council of Europe and funded by Germany. The project is implemented in co-operation with the Ministry of Education from January 2024 to December 2025.

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