Sathyameva Jayathe: Kerala initiative aims to educate students in spotting fake news

Published : Oct 26, 2022 16:29 IST Ligin George John, a student in Pathanamthitta, Kerala, received a few “interesting” WhatsApp forwards from one of his aunts. Hence, it becomes extremely important to equip the children to identify fake information and pseudoscience.” An estimate from a UNICEF report called “Digital misinformation/disinformation and children” showed that in 2020 alone, 76 per cent of persons between 14 and 24 reported seeing online mis/disinformation at least once a week. Sathyameva Jayathe aims to help students imbibe these critical skills not only to help themselves but to assist their families and the society they live in as well, says Shanavas K, a “Master Trainer” with KITE, who headed a four-member team that created the modules for the campaign, which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on February 10, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic period when Kerala’s school education system went online. The third phase began in August 2022 using what KITE calls a “special training module”, under which every student received training for over two-and-a-half hours in four sections. “We also run training for the parents as well, using the same modules that we have used to train our children,” said Asha P. Mathew, who teaches at AMMHSS, Edayaranmula.