UNESCO, Partners Target Fake News With Media Literacy Books For Children

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and its companions have unveiled media and knowledge literacy workbooks for kids aged six to 10 to equip them with abilities to establish pretend information, confirm info and assume critically earlier than sharing content material.

The workbooks, offered at an occasion on the United Nations House in Abuja, are designed to assist kids recognise misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and different types of dangerous on-line content material.

Speaking on the occasion, UNESCO Representative to Nigeria and Head of the UNESCO Abuja Office, Dr Isaías Barreto da Rosa, mentioned training remained a significant software for addressing the rising unfold of false info.

He mentioned instructing kids to examine information, query info sources and keep away from sharing unverified content material would contribute to constructing a extra knowledgeable society.

Barreto da Rosa mentioned UNESCO’s media and knowledge literacy programmes had been geared toward serving to individuals perceive and use info responsibly, including that the organisation supported the initiative due to its potential to construct these abilities from an early age.

Similarly, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian National Commission for UNESCO, Dr Lateef Idowu Olagunju, mentioned kids wanted sensible instruments to evaluate info in an more and more advanced digital surroundings.

He famous that kids ought to be taught to query who created a chunk of knowledge, the motive behind it and whether or not it had been verified earlier than sharing it.

Olagunju additionally highlighted using brief animated movies to make media literacy classes extra accessible to kids, together with instructing them to confirm bulletins corresponding to claims that faculties can be closed.

1. The Director of the International Media and Information Literacy Institute (IMILI), Dr Sharon Omotoso, known as for a collective effort by dad and mom, educators and different stakeholders to information kids’s engagement with media and know-how.

She mentioned dad and mom should not solely monitor what kids devour on-line but in addition educate themselves about digital dangers, together with scams, on-line exploitation, privateness breaches and the misuse of synthetic intelligence.

Omotoso careworn that the data surroundings required steering and accountable conduct from all stakeholders, including that kids wanted the talents to guard themselves from dangerous content material and unsafe on-line interactions.

In her remarks, Executive Director of the Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue Foundation (MILID Foundation), Chiamaka Okafor-Onumah, mentioned the initiative was developed in response to the necessity to set up accountable info habits earlier than kids get older.

She mentioned the workbook, referred to as Young Truth Detectives, comprises six missions designed to make studying interactive and fascinating, alongside a facilitator’s information for academics, dad and mom and neighborhood teams.

According to her, the supplies are supposed to be used past formal lecture rooms, together with church buildings, mosques and different neighborhood settings.

Okafor-Onumah mentioned the inspiration deliberate to work with companions to distribute copies to colleges, together with these in rural communities, via a school-adoption strategy. She added that the books weren’t presently on the market and that future plans included translating them into native languages to increase entry.

The initiative was organised by the MILID Foundation in partnership with the Two Books and One Pen Initiatives and Zedx Original, with assist from UNESCO.

The organisers mentioned the broader aim was to advertise accountable info consumption amongst kids and strengthen efforts to handle misinformation and knowledge manipulation in Nigeria.