Schools in Malaysia may soon see digital media literacy included in the school curriculum. The move is an attempt to combat the rising tide of fake news.
A recent study found that young people are much more likely to get their daily news via social media.
With fake news becoming increasingly rampant, digital literacy advocates have plans to propose to the Ministry of Education that digital life skills be part of school curriculum.
Youths must be instilled with the basic do’s and don’ts to prepare them for today’s world, said Datuk Ahmad Izham Omar, chairman of the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia (CMCF).
“It is important to teach the younger generation the importance of having civic consciousness in the digital world. We may talk to the Education Ministry about having these skills embedded in the curriculum,” he told Malay Mail.
“Apart from having a strong nuclear household, this ought to help children make better decisions when it comes to their internet presence.”
This may be one of the possible steps towards media literacy in the new age of fake news, he added.
Ahmad explained that technology users need to be able to discern the degree of truth in whatever information they receive.
“When it comes to assessing the media, you might take things at face value and there are real dangers in doing so,” he said.
The dangers range from implicating oneself or others legally, to psychological effects that may eventually result in loss of lives, he added.
To combat the dissemination of fake news, the government passed a law recently that makes the act punishable by law.
Those found guilty of spreading fake news can be jailed up to six years and/or fined a maximum of RM500,000.
Across the causeway, Singapore’s Ministry of Education has already infused lessons on information literacy into academic subjects. The lessons teach students to identify accurate information online.
Singapore’s primary and secondary schools also benefit from a cyber wellness syllabus.