Life skills Training on Media and Information Literacy for ALS Implementers

UNESCO Jakarta organized a virtual 3-session life skills training for ALS implementers on 23 and 24 November 2020 in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte in Region VIII, Eastern Visayas, Philippines.

The online training was organized to support the learning continuity plan of the Philippines’ Department of Education. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Secretary Dr. Leonor Magtolis-Briones emphasized that “education must continue” in anticipating the opening of classes for 2020 in the Philippines. Along with this pronouncement, DepEd implemented its learning continuity plan in the country as a response to the unprecedented global health crisis.

In response to the current dramatic increase in access and information, especially on social media, the online life skills training was aptly organized to enhance the ALS implementers’ ability to use and consume information and media content in an ethical, effective, and truthful manner. The ALS implementers are expected to share the knowledge and insights they have gained in this training to the ALS learners they are handling to know how to manage and create media and information appropriately.

Dr. Shahbaz Khan, Director, and Representative of UNESCO Jakarta mentioned in his opening remarks that the COVID-19 pandemic has enabled an “infodemic” that resulted in the over-abundance of wrong and misleading information. Training like this has become more critical to combat fake news that endangers the entire population’s health and safety.

Around 100 ALS implementers participated in the online training session streamed live via the UNESCO-KOICA-DepEd Project Facebook page. The experts organized by the Ateneo de Davao’s Academy for Lifelong Learning delivered the training covering specific topics such as: Keeping Safe in Cyberspace; Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10173); Gauging Emotional Behavior Before Sharing; and, Think Before Clicking, Think Before Sharing.

This capacity-building activity is part of UNESCO’s “Better Life for Out-of-School Girls to Fight Against Poverty and Injustice in the Philippines” Project” funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).