Digital Safety – Learning to Grow Up Safe Online
Online safety is one of the foundations of digital literacy
- Srpski
- English
Niška Banja, April 2026 - “The internet is a great place, we just need to know how to stay safe. Online, it’s important to respect others, protect our data, and not tolerate violence, because there is always a solution,” says fifteen-year-old Milica, an eighth-grade student at Ivan Goran Kovačić Primary School. The way she explains it shows that she knows a lot about digital safety and understands both the benefits and the risks of the digital world.
At Milica’s school, students, parents and teachers shared what they have learned about the safe use of digital technologies and how they apply that knowledge in everyday life. They say the project “Bridging the Digital Divide and Improving Digital Safety of Students”, implemented by UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Centre for Education Policy, with the support of Yettel, has helped them the most. Through the project, digital safety education has reached 120 teachers and more than 5,430 students from 30 schools also attended by children from vulnerable groups.
"The project has been implemented in our school since 2022, and since last year we entered a new phase focused on digital safety. As part of the project, teachers and professional associates completed training on digital safety, which helped strengthen their skills to better support students in using the internet and digital technologies in a smart and safe way,.
The school also marks Safer Internet Day every year, when students from first to eighth grade take part in workshops where they learn about digital safety.
"We involve parents through the Parents' Council, parent-teacher meetings and individual conversations with school’s professional staff, homeroom teachers and other teachers. In this way, we inform them about how they can help their children use the internet safely, as well as about the tools they can use at home to better understand and guide what their children do online," says Ana.
As part of the project, the “Digital Compass for Parents” guide was also developed, covering topics such as digital literacy, the use of artificial intelligence and social media, as well as ways parents can support their children in the online world.
"The digital literacy guide is important for parents because it helps them understand how children use the internet and what risks exist online. It also includes guidelines on how to protect children and how to use digital technologies responsibly and safely. Through this guide, I also learned about parental control tools," explains Jelena Mitić, Milica's mother.
During extracurricular activities, in school learning clubs, students develop a wide range of skills, with special attention given to digital competencies and online safety. A team of 15 seventh- and eighth-grade students from Ivan Goran Kovačić Primary School used this knowledge to create an application that is one of the best interactive digital contents on the topic of digital safety. It was developed from the best works that students created during a thematic week dedicated to digital safety.
"The app we created helps us learn more about digital safety, understand how we can stay safe online, and know what to do if someone insults us on the internet," explains Milica.
Her friend Vojin takes us through the app step by step, showing just how engaging and easy it is to use.
"You can learn many terms in English, such as ‘cyberbullying’, which means digital violence. The app includes three games — a quiz, a word search and a sequence game," he explains. He assures us that everyone who has used the app now understands that digital violence should never be ignored or kept silent.
"The app also explains that if digital violence happens, we can talk to a parent, a psychologist, the school pedagogue, the police, or any adult we trust," he adds.
Fifteen-year-old Nikolina, who enjoys creating animations, was responsible for designing the avatar that guides users through the app. For her, it is especially important that she now knows what should never be shared online.
"We should be careful not to share personal information online, such as phone numbers, addresses and certain photos," she says. She remembers this especially well after a personal unpleasant experience.
"I saw my photo on someone’s profile even though I had never agreed for it to be posted or even taken, so I had to report it and say that I didn’t want it there," Nikolina says.
Matea is a seventh-grade student who enjoys acting, plays volleyball, and says German is her favourite subject. She joined the project because she likes teamwork. Together with her friend Nina, she created the quiz featured in the app.
"I think the quiz is a good way to teach children about digital violence, so they can see how much they already know about it, but also learn new things," says Matea.
Tijana, an eighth-grade student, believes that all children should use the app and learn about digital safety because they spend so much time on social media.
"We shouldn’t communicate with people we don’t know, because there are many bad people pretending to be someone else without us realizing it" she explains.
Fourteen-year-old Mihajlo took part in selecting the best student projects to be included in the app. For him, the experience brought new friendships, as well as an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience.
"I really liked working on this project because we learned a lot about teamwork. Not everything is on the internet — some things are about real-life relationships," he says.
For him, it is equally important that young people know how to protect both themselves and others in the digital world.
"We should not be rude on the internet, we should not leave ugly comments, because that way we can hurt someone else," says Mihajlo.
Dragana Radosavljević, a teacher of informatics, computing, technology and engineering, worked with the student team for more than a month on developing the app. She is proud of their creativity, resourcefulness and persistence.
"I think the app is useful because it can also serve as an example for other students of the same age in learning basic concepts and in dealing with situations that may not seem harmless and can potentially be dangerous," says Dragana.
Through the project, these young people also learned how to use artificial intelligence ethically in learning and how to respect copyright.
"Everyone who wanted to could work at school, but students could also work from home. Those who did not have computers at home were able to borrow tablets from our digital library to continue learning and developing their skills," says Dragana.
Alongside Dragana, Biserka Živadinović Mijucić, also a computer science teacher, was involved in the project.
"Digital safety is a shared responsibility of all of us in the school – children, teachers and parents. We all need to work on it together," she explains.
At the end of our visit, one message becomes clear despite everyone expressing it in different ways: when children know how to protect themselves online, the digital world becomes a place of learning rather than fear.
