Kerala Govt Introduces ‘Fake News Detection’ In School Curriculum

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala General Education Department has introduced ‘Fact-Checking’ modules as part of new ICT textbooks for Classes 5 and 7. These will enable young students to recognize fake news and perform fact-checking on online platforms.

The new ICT textbook includes chapters that equip students to identify fake news and malicious content. When the ICT textbooks for Classes 6, 8, and 9, and 10 are revised, they will include the latest developments in this field.

The chapter titled ‘Let’s Search the Internet’ in the Class 5 ICT textbook also covers how to effectively manage screen time.

Similarly, the Class 7 ICT textbook chapter titled ‘Let’s Search and Find’ elaborates on the importance of verifying the authenticity of information and explains why spreading or sharing false information is a crime.

This move by the Kerala government took up this move ahead of Britain which reportedly planning to introduce similar topic in school curriculum.

Earlier in 2022, in a first of its kind move, Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), the technology arm of Kerala General Education Department, had imparted Fake News prevention and awareness creation training for 19.72 lakh students of Grades 5 to 10.

These textbooks in Malayalam, English, Kannada and Tamil media are available at www.samagra.kite.kerala.gov.in.