THE PHILIPPINES should prioritize media and information literacy in schools as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the spread of disinformation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said.
“We must try to mainstream and integrate media and information literacy into the curriculum for young children,” Maki Katsuno-Hayashikawa, UNESCO regional director for Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste, told a media roundtable on Tuesday.
“At the same time, we need to train teachers how to deliver [it] as a subject or as part of the curriculum,” said added.
She noted that while access to education in the Philippines is broad, quality and content remain uneven, particularly in rural areas.
With younger Filipinos relying heavily on social media as their main source of news, Ms. Katsuno-Hayashikawa said media and information literacy has become more complex in the age of AI.
UNESCO Program Officer Ana Lomtadze cited the importance of including data privacy in media and information literacy.
“Every time we interact with an algorithmic-driven product, it collects data about us that we may not be aware of,” she said, adding that such information could later be resold to companies for profit.
UNESCO has teamed up with THINKaMuna Pilipinas, the media literacy program of MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., to promote critical thinking and digital literacy. The collaboration has produced information videos on cognitive biases, critical thinking and technology addiction.
The two groups will also co-host the Philippine Media and Information Literacy Conference 2025 in November, with the theme “empowering critical thinking in the age of AI.”
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest, has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz