Students from "Hristo Botev" Secondary School in the town of Dzhebel were trained on how to distinguish the dangers on the Internet and to communicate safely online. Between 25 th and 27th of February Dr Emanuil Georgiev together with other experts from the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre, conducted a three-day course with them at the school's STEM centre.

Under the guidance of Dr Georgiev, the fifth and sixth-grade students understood the nature of the most serious risks for children on the Internet and how to deal with them. The students also learned how to protect themselves while online and how to recognize fake news. Through role-play games, they practised the three roles of a cyberscout: to set an example of responsible and safe behaviour on the web, to give advice to peers in case of an online problem and to organise and conduct public activities. They will form cyberscout teams which, with the help of teachers, will pass on knowledge to their peers about how to look after their online safety.

Since its launch, the CyberScout programme provided training to over 1,600 students and benefited over 5,000 children. In 2017, the programme was ranked 9th in Europe by the European Crime Prevention Network.

In parallel with the training of the children, at the STEM centre of the Hristo Botev Secondary School in Dzhebel, 27 teachers received valuable training and knowledge on how to deal with both: in-person and online bullying and problems among their students. Antoaneta Vassileva, an expert at the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre, conducted the training "Virtual and Real Violence" among the teaching staff of the school. Teachers of students from 1st to 12th grade, as well as the school psychologist, took the opportunity to discuss with her pressing problems and cases of the students.