‘Fake news’ as subject in Kerala primary curriculum

Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) CEO K. Anvar Sadath on Monday said that Kerala has introduced the ‘fake news’ as a subject in the primary curriculum before the UK.

On Sunday, the UK instructed its schools to teach children about spotting extremist content and fake news online in an overhaul of the curriculum after far-right riots erupted across the country.

“In 2022, Kerala imparted fake news prevention and awareness creation training to 19.72 lakh students of Grade 5 to 10, as part of the Digital Media Literacy programme,” said K. Anvar Sadath, CEO, KITE - which promotes and implements modernisation of educational institutions in Kerala.

He said that Kerala was the first in the country to introduce the training on such a massive scale which was provided to 9.48 lakh upper primary students and 10.24 high school students with the help of 5920 trainers.

KITE CEO added that the 2.5 hours of training titled ‘Satyameve Jayathe’ focused on sections that included the use of the internet, the social media - in understanding rights and wrongs and how to prevent the spread of fake news.

“The false information shared through digital media, the negative impact it creates in the society and the verification of the authenticity of information were made part of the training through various ‘Case Studies’,” said KITE CEO.

He said that the new Information & Communication Technology (ICT) textbook includes chapters that equip students to identify fake news and malicious content, embodying the spirit of ‘Satyameva Jayate’.

“Next year, when the ICT textbooks for Classes 6, 8, 9, and 10 are revised, they will incorporate the latest developments in this field,” he said.

He added that for Class 7, for the first time in the country, four lakh students have been allowed to learn Artificial Intelligence (AI).