We assume all changes in our education are good and necessary for academic development, when in reality, some of these changes are the reason why our generation of learners lag and fall behind academically and in the real world.

When the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented the Strengthened Senior High School Curriculum for the latest school year, I could not help but notice the removal of Media Information Literacy which was a subject necessary for the learners of the 21st Century. It was honestly a foolish decision considering that social media and media technologies are heavily integrated into high school students’ lives nowadays.

Ever since the pandemic hit, our daily lives had to conform to technology, social media, and the internet. Millions of learners at very young ages had no choice but to use these alternative communication methods as a medium for learning. Unfortunately, there weren’t really that many guidelines from DepEd that encouraged schools to spread awareness on how to be safe from doxing, online predation, grooming, privacy risks, phishing, misinformation, disinformation, and other digital threats. There were only a few subjects and platforms that addressed these and the Media Information Literacy subject was one of them.

The objectives for Media Information Literacy were never demanding to begin with—it simply aimed to teach students to use media technologies efficiently, safely, and responsibly. So why discourage efficient, safe, and proper use of media technology that is easily accessible to the public?

By removing Media Information Literacy from schools, we withhold vital information from the youth on utilizing technology safely, therefore, making them digitally illiterate. We need to remember that using social media platforms may become a threat to a user’s safety when used improperly and in the context of children and developing teenagers, media platforms like social media have a heavy impact on their development especially in cases that involve grooming, harassment, misinformation, disinformation, and the like.

And in Philippine records, our youth is prone to these digital threat situations which is more of a reason for DepEd to reconsider their removal of Media Information Literacy from the new senior high school curriculum. One of our records from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center back in 2023 even revealed that the Philippines was no. 2 in online sexual abuse among the youth. 2023 was only 3 years ago, and there has not been that much change since then.

Promoting digital literacy among the youth is important if we truly want them to be safe when navigating media platforms because let us be realistic—there will definitely be times when we cannot monitor and control the media that students get exposed to. The very least thing we could do for them is equip them with sufficient knowledge needed for them to identify factual information and online threats.

Unfortunately for us, this is not the first time that DepEd has disappointed our young learners with absurd curriculum changes that benefit no one. If DepEd won’t promote digital literacy through the Media Information Literacy course, then let us instead have barangays invite private technology companies to open partnerships with schools or open programs in local communities. On a more manageable scale, let us encourage our families and relatives to promote digital literacy among the youth.

The Frontman