By October 31, teachers from first to twelfth grade across Bulgaria must hold at least one digital safety lesson. The lesson counts them in for "Online Safety Month," a campaign that launched this autumn in Bulgarian schools. The initiative comes from telecom firm Yettel and education platform Prepodavame.bg, with bTV as media partner. Teachers pick from ready-made materials on four topics: artificial intelligence, cyberbullying, social media influence, and online scams.
Instead of lectures, students take part in quizzes, debates, anti-bullying campaigns, digital wellbeing challenges and exhibitions on the theme "Man versus Machine." Schools with the most trained students win a visit to bTV's newsroom and Yettel's head office. Teachers who take part get training and equipment. "Skills for safe online behavior build up gradually, through practice, questions and ongoing conversation," says Margita Kolcheva from Yettel.
The campaign adds to several state programs. The education ministry and UNICEF Bulgaria are in the third year of their "Steps Together" program. It grew from a pilot project into the national "No Aggression for a Safe Learning Environment" program and has now reached more than 10,000 students. This autumn UNICEF is adding the "School for Online Safety" campaign. The ministry has also set aside more than 1.2 million levs for a new national cyber security program for schools. In 2025 alone, 8,491 students and 11,186 teachers — close to 20,000 people in total — completed training under the "Cybersecurity" module of the National Program "Security." "Our job is to give them the knowledge and skills to protect themselves from online risks," says deputy education minister Tanya Pancheva.
80% of students go online before they turn 10
A study called "Growing Up Online: Children, the Digital World and Safety" was carried out by UNICEF Bulgaria, the National Safer Internet Center and the Parents' Association between November 2025 and January 2026. It surveyed 389 students, 355 parents and 83 teachers. It found that nearly 80% of students go online before they turn 10. More than half spend over four hours a day online in their free time.
86% of students use AI tools, most often ChatGPT, but only 18% check whether the information is true, and just 11% care where it comes from. Almost one in four students admits they never stop to think whether an AI's answers are correct. A separate Yettel survey of children and teenagers found that 97% of those aged 13 to 19, and 85% of those aged 7 to 12, go online every day. Yet only 37% can spot a dangerous website, and 67% don't know how to set a secure password.
Cyberbullying is the risk students run into most often. Data used by the European Commission when it drew up its plan against online bullying show one in six children aged 11 to 15 has been a victim. One in eight admits to bullying a peer online themselves. The UNICEF and Parents' Association survey found that more than 20% of students have experienced cyberbullying. Only 44% of them told a parent, and just 11% turned to a teacher. Yettel's data show the share of children affected by cyberbullying has risen from 8% in 2022 to 15% now.
Scams aimed at children mostly happen through games. Fake promises of free money or items lure young players into giving away their account passwords. Some scammers also send texts asking for money, supposedly to claim a prize in a game. The National Safer Internet Center advises parents to tell their children that no bank or institution will ever ask for personal details by email. Parents should also check website addresses carefully, since scammers use domains that look almost identical to real ones, such as "paypa1.com" instead of "paypal.com."
Advice for parents by age group, and a free helpline: 124 123
Psychologists and the National Safer Internet Center agree that conversations about online risks should start before a problem happens, not after. The center advises parents not to interrogate their children, but to bring up the subject naturally. That means browsing together, trying new apps and games, and asking what sites the child has used lately and what they like about them. In Yettel's survey, 80% of young people say they want to get better at staying safe online. Asked who should teach them, they name their parents first.
The advice changes with age. For children aged 3 to 6, the main risk is stumbling onto unsuitable content by accident or giving away their name and address in a children's game. For those aged 7 to 9, bullying and unwanted contact from strangers come to the fore. For 10- to 12-year-olds, it's peer pressure to share photos after signing up to a social network. For teenagers, the main risks are cyberbullying, being lured in by strangers, and dangerous online challenges. Parents and children who don't know who to turn to can call the free helpline 124 123, open every weekday from 10am to 6pm.
Teachers who take part in "Online Safety Month" have until November 10 to hand in a report. It should give a short account of how the lesson went and what students learned. A committee will use these reports to decide which schools win the prizes.