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 policy makers, 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 emphasised 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 Serbia from January 2024 to December 2025.