Why media and information literacy belongs in every child’s learning journey, By Chiamaka Okafor-Onumah
A child hears that school is cancelled tomorrow. The news comes through a friend, a family WhatsApp group, or a video clip shared online. What does the child do next: believe it, forward it, or stop to check? That small, ordinary moment sits at the heart of a much bigger conversation about how children are being prepared for the information age.
Chiamaka Okafor-Onumah's argument is straightforward: children today are surrounded by more information than any previous generation, and volume alone does not equal understanding. Knowing how to receive, question, and verify what you see and hear is a skill, and like reading or arithmetic, it needs to be taught.
Media and information literacy, the ability to critically assess sources and think clearly about content, is not a luxury subject for older students. It belongs in every child's learning journey, from early on, because the WhatsApp group and the viral video are already there waiting for them.
The question worth sitting with is this: if we do not teach children to pause before they forward, who will?
Originally published by Premium Times.