Government wants to train students against disinformation

The British government announced on Sunday 11 August that it would adapt school curricula to better arm children against misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating online following the recent far-right riots. Authorities are very angry about the role of social networks in the week of racist and Islamophobic violence that followed the knife attack that claimed the lives of three young girls in Southport on 29 July.

“It is more important than ever to equip young people with the skills to think critically about what they see online”Education Minister Bridget Phillipson told the Sunday Telegraph. “Our curriculum reform will include critical skills training to equip our children to deal with the disinformation, fake news and sickening conspiracy theories that are rife on social media,” she added.

The goal will be part of a major review of primary and secondary education programs launched by the new Labour government, the findings of which are expected next year. According to the Sunday Telegraphthe government’s idea is not to create specific courses on disinformation, but to include the topic in several subjects. English courses could be devoted to analyzing newspaper articles to sort out real information from fake news, computer science courses could identify “fake news” sites or retouched images, while mathematics courses could focus on interpreting statistics.