This was said in today's training, where about 20 school teachers in Gjakova were trained on media education. In addition, it was emphasized that the girls of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are also falling prey to fraudsters on social media.
Today, the first phase of teacher trainings was completed, which during last weeks they were organized in Fushe Kosova, Mitrovica and Prizren.
She said for KosovaPress that there are a large number of girls who are not able to continue their education.
"Taking into account that these communities have to do with their families who do not have a lot of information, especially about their schooling and education, for this reason we also have big problems. I also am part of the field where we have school dropouts, especially girls who drop out of school. There are a large number of girls who drop out of school...Usually girls drop out of school because of the misinformation of their families, who are still traditional, who think that girls should dropout if they are taller because she has to get married and they stop her to go to school", she emphasizes.
During Saturday, many teachers in Gjakova participated in the training on the topic "Misinformation, disinformation and malicious information", in the framework of the project "Media education for teachers of students from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities".
Kreshnik Gjoklaj, who has been an ICT teacher for three years, at the "Selman Riza" school, shows that among the 600 students that the school has, there are also a large number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.
"Students use technology a lot; it is the digital age in which they are influenced by technology. Often times misuse or misinformation from these technologies, or the Internet, negatively affects students. For example, online games for some of the students, because the information that they should have is not accurate or sufficient for them. The students of the communities lack more information, because it is not only the school that should inform the students about these things that technology or the internet in general can bring," he emphasizes.
"The information they receive from social media affects the general information they receive or research on the Internet. Anyone can share that information, but the source from which they receive it, may be incorrect... Communication, often through apps, with strangers, is the point that needs to be addressed the most. Because we always know who is in front of the computer, but who is behind the computer we never know because they may have profiles with someone’s first and last name that they don't know", he declared for KosovaPress.
These are not the only cases where students suffer from misinformation.
"Our school has a large number of minorities and it is important to break the stereotypes of these students and to receive media education, because we are noticing that some of these students who belong to these communities, misinformation brings them into situations that are not good, for example, leaving school or different situations they had, or the issue of vaccination among those who said it affects their reproduction so that they did not respond to the call for vaccination," she concludes.
With the financial support from the American Embassy in Prishtina, the "KosovaPress" News Agency, together with the non-governmental organization "Young Community Leaders Center/YCLC", is organizing these trainings within the seven-month project, which aims to raise the awareness of communities against disinformation, as well as strengthening the role of civil society activists from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.
Whereas, the second phase will start from December, which includes professors and secondary school students from grades 10 to 12.
The project "Media education against disinformation for teachers, students and civil society activists from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities” is supported by the United States Embassy in Prishtina.
