The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has launched a national Child Online Protection campaign aimed at keeping children safe on the internet.
The campaign, themed “A Safer Digital Future” and running under the tagline #SmartClickSaferChild, was launched at Kololo Senior Secondary School in Kampala. It comes as a UCC survey found that nearly three in every four students who run into harm online never tell anyone about it, not even their parents.
Presenting the findings, UCC’s Director of Economic Regulation, Content and Consumer Affairs, Juliane Mweheire, said the survey covered more than 5,700 students, including some from Kololo SS.
| Finding | Students |
|---|---|
| Know how to use the internet | 98.4% |
| Have encountered unsafe activity online | 88% |
| Have never told anyone, including parents | 74.2% |
| Have encountered sexual content or related online harms | 71% |
| Spend more than four hours a day on their phones | 36.2% |
Source: UCC
By comparison, 73.1% of parents said they were aware of how their children use the internet. Mweheire said the gap between children’s access to the internet and adult oversight is already wide, and that children are increasingly exposed to risk while keeping silent about it.
New regulatory framework
UCC Executive Director Nyombi Thembo said about six billion people worldwide are now connected to the internet and that one in three internet users is a child, making online safety an urgent issue.
He said the internet offers children huge opportunities to learn, connect and have fun, but the harms they face online can have far-reaching consequences. With new platforms, including AI, creating fresh risks, he said UCC has developed the Child Online Protection Regulatory Framework 2026 to provide a foundation for protecting children in cyberspace.
Thembo described the framework as just the beginning, with implementation still to come. He said that although government sees ICT as a key driver of Uganda’s socio-economic transformation, that progress can only last if digital platforms are trusted and safe. He added that UCC will work with technology companies and other stakeholders to make platforms safer by design.
He called for a strong culture of digital literacy and online safety among teachers, parents, communities and children, and gave students five rules to live by online:
- Think before you post.
- Protect your personal information.
- Be careful who you trust online.
- Do not take part in cyberbullying.
- Do not suffer in silence. Seek help.
He urged everyone to take responsibility for protecting children and to help them become ambassadors for safe and responsible internet use.
“Not only girls”
Ministry of ICT and National Guidance Permanent Secretary Dr Aminah Zawedde, who represented Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba, said First Lady Janet Museveni had directed the ministry to lead a safe digital transformation, a mandate she said the ministry takes seriously.
She cautioned against treating online harm as a girls-only issue, noting that boys also face cyberbullying.
Zawedde said government has laws on child online protection and will keep reviewing them alongside regulators such as UCC. She called on telecom operators, police, digital platforms and technology companies to play their part, and encouraged students to dream big and innovate.
She then officially launched the campaign by flagging off a vehicle that will travel to communities to raise awareness about online safety.
Host school raises land concerns
The Chair of the Kololo SS Board of Governors said the school is ready to help sensitise learners about the campaign and thanked government for a new block with 25 classrooms and three laboratories.
He also said the school is fighting attempts to grab the land on which its playground sits. The matter has been raised with a parliamentary committee, to which the school has presented a report.
Parents, do you know what your children do online? Tell us. @campusbee.ug
