Amman – Organized and implemented by the UNESCO Amman Office in collaboration with Media Diversity Institute (MDI), a training workshop was held at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) for school principals and teachers from 15 public schools from the governorates of Irbid, Zarqa and Ma'an, under the framework of the EU funded “Youth Empowerment - Media and Information Literacy (MIL)” Project.
The workshop, which was attended by 45 teachers, aims at providing participants with the necessary and needed skills that will later enable them to establish MIL clubs in their schools in order to discuss media and information literacy related topics with their students. Through weekly sessions, students will learn about the means of publishing and verifying news stories, spotting rumors and fake news, as well as the ways of creating media content.
During the workshop’s closing ceremony, Secretary General of the Ministry of Education Sami Al-Salaita said that "spreading media awareness is one of the government’s priorities as the Ministry of Education intends to educate students about the concepts of media literacy and raise awareness against extremism and hate speech” adding that “the Ministry counts on the participants to spread the knowledge they gained in the workshop to benefit their students and their fellow teachers through the MIL clubs that will be established.”
UNESCO Representative to Jordan, Costanza Farina, praised the partnership between the Ministry of Education, the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) and the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) and their collaboration “towards establishing these clubs and for providing the participants with the knowledge and skills to make this experience a success that will last by reaching new schools in other governorates as well.”
For his part, JMI Dean Dr. Basim Tweissi emphasized the importance of integrating the concepts of media literacy in the educational system, praising the steps taken by the Ministry of Education in this regard. Tweissi also pointed out that "in this regard, JMI has become a knowledge reference both nationally and regionally, recently winning the 2018 award of UNESCO’s Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL).”
Media advisor and trainer, Dr. Najla Al Omari, explained that the workshop involved training participants on in a number of media and information literacy skills in order to spread the knowledge to their students and colleagues "based on the fact that MIL is a combined set of competencies necessary for life and work alike. And to take advantage of technology and modern communication methods to broadcast meaningful and informative media content.”
A number of teachers and praised the training, pointing out that their work on establishing these clubs began from the moment they started the workshop.
About his experience at the workshop, teacher Abdul Nasser Shaban of Jabal Tareq Elementary School in Zarqa governorate said that he will “start a club of 20-30 students,” adding that the skills learnt at the workshop will help him “spread the knowledge to the students and enhance the roles of some of the school’s activities.”
Teacher Asmaa Flahat of Fatima Al-Zahra Elementary School in Ma’an governorate praised the workshop which discussed new media concepts and highlighted its modern functions as well as gave the skills needed to verify the authenticity of sources prior to publishing news stories.
The “Youth Empowerment” Project promotes the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) concepts to ensure the safe and ethical use and production of both online and media content.