Mila Carovska: The capacity for recognizing disinformation should be built among first graders

The Minister of Education, Mila Carovska, in an extensive interview for Meta.mk, published on 14 September 2020, highlights the need to introduce media literacy in the state education system

To the question whether in the context of the needs to face the influx of misinformation there is a chance to introduce media literacy as a school subject, or such a subject to be distributed thematically in primary and secondary education, Minister Carovska answered:

This Ministry has a plan to prepare a new concept for primary education. I believe it would be too late if we invested in higher education, but future generations, starting from the first grade, should learn what fake news is. This is also happening around the world, within digital literacy, recognizing what is false and what is true. I think that media literacy should be included in that concept. Maybe not as a separate school subject, but it should permeate all subjects and we should have one such thread – Carovska says.

The Minister believes that when it comes to adopting public policy “it is simple to introduce them as a document, but after that, together with civil society organizations and higher education we need to find a way to train teachers who will convey it well to students.”

According to Carovska, the readiness to face media manipulations “should become part of the intuitive reaction of every future citizen that we are now creating through the education system and we should create a person who will continue to think critically and be able to assess what is true and what is not.”

Among other things, Carovska talks about the readiness of the education system in emergency conditions due to the fight against COVID-19, twenty days before the start of the new school year, the possibility of correcting the mistakes of the past, as well as the digital skills teachers possess.

Regarding the assessment of the Ministry of Education and Science for the current level of digital skills possessed by teachers and professors, the Minister says that there are large individual differences regarding their readiness.

The level is quite different. They are the main players in the system. We have not invested much in teacher training in the past, and they can now be divided into two groups – one is proactive and invests in themselves and in teaching, and the other has not followed innovations in the education system and it is more difficult for them. However, all together with one motivation, we will manage to get the most out of the potential we have. Older people are less likely to have access to digital tools, but they certainly have the much-needed will. There will also be resistance to the new. Each of us is resistant to some innovations, but slowly but surely we will change direction and adapt to the new times – the Minister said.

The entire interview of the Minister of Education and Science is available on the website of the news agency Meta.mk.

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