In a time where we are 'bombarded' with information that is not always accurate, reliable or well-intentioned, media knowledge is considered to be an indispensable skill.

This was said in the training held today, where over 20 students from the non-majority community, together with their teachers from primary and secondary schools in Podujeva, have learned about the importance of media education. They learned how not to fall prey to fake news and how to develop their critical thinking about what is served to them every day in the media.

The student from the non-majority community, Ermal Ahmeti, who is in the 10th grade of the high technical high school "Fan Noli" in Podujeva, said that recently he has seen in the media that there are news circulating saying that the footballer Kylian Mbappe has signed the contract to move to the Spanish club Real Madrid or Barcelona, for which he emphasized that such a thing is not true.

In addition, Ahmeti showed another example when he was misinformed by the media, where it was said that France will suspend visa liberalization for Kosovo.

"In the media I have seen a post of a footballer called Kylian Mbappe, he is in the Paris Saint-Germain club, it has been reported that Mbappe is in Real Madrid, but it is not true. "Mbappe will go to Barcelona", they said. But this is not true either… Also, the media has spread the news that France will not accept the visa liberalization for Kosovo, but that news is not true… We really liked the training today, because it educated us, but I would have liked to hold more such activities and trainings to educate us even more", said Ahmeti.

Likewise, the student from the Ashkali community, in the 11th grade at the "Isa Boletini" Economic High School, Naxhie Rexhepi said that she often reads articles in the media that contain fake information about their community, for which she added that this is affecting negatively to them.

She said that by writing such untrue things, "people are thinking that we are bad people".

Meanwhile, regarding the training held today, Rexhepi said that it had a relatively big impact, learning new facts that they did not know about disinformation and deep fake.

Rexhepi emphasized that such trainings should be held as often as possible, so that the non-majority community has the opportunity to be educated as much as possible through the media.

"It happened that they opened social media, untrue pages of teachers, they made fake content. They actually weren't the teachers, someone wanted to make fun of us students… It happened, for example, they published a fact about us that is not true, and this affects people a lot because with an untrue fact about us, that is not real, others think that it's true. They think we are bad people, but we are not. This has had a great impact on the Ashkali community or other communities… The training has been very good, it has had an impact on all of us, we have learned things that we did not know, regarding the media, social networks… I think that we should have training as often as possible because we are being educated, we are being taught things we did not know", said Rexhepi.

Meanwhile, the tutor at the "Ibrahim Rugova" elementary school, in Podujeva, Adem Bajrami said that fake news negatively affects students from the non-majority community.

Bajrami considered that today's training was very efficient for the students of this community, because according to him they managed to learn that not everything they read in the media is correct.

"(Fake) news often has a negative effect on students. Fortunately, we teachers who teach students tell them what they see on portals, in the media, not all of them are true... As a teacher, as a tutor who works in a school, I regularly inform students... Most communities often have shortcomings, such as parents and children, but this also affects the economic conditions of the children of the communities... I tell them that often the news that comes out about an event shows something about the community, while we in the community know that it is not true... The training was effective, I believe that it is very effective for the children who participated, because now they are more widely informed", said Bajrami.

The official for education in the Municipal Directorate of Education in the Municipality of Podujeva, Selman Gashi, said that such trainings are necessary both for the students and teachers of the non-majority community, but also for the municipal officials themselves.

"Thank you to the organizers for this training, which is also welcome for us as municipal officials, as well as for the teachers and children of the communities who were very satisfied with this training, from which they received basic information that will serve them identify the fake news they encounter on social networks… Fake news negatively affects each layer as well as the communities. However, based on what we saw in this training, the students of three high schools in our municipality have information about what could be fake or untrue news, and the information they received from this training I think will be very useful for them… Such trainings are welcome", said Gashi.

Meanwhile, the trainer of this project "Media education against disinformation for non-majority communities in Kosovo", Linda Baleta said that media knowledge is a necessary knowledge and skill for the time we are living.

She considered that it is very necessary to invest in strategies and plans so that all age groups get the right knowledge about media education.

"Media knowledge is essential knowledge and skills for the time we are living in. When we are surrounded, bombarded with different information from different sources, which are not always accurate, reliable, or well-intentioned. Therefore, I think it is very necessary to invest resources, invest time and have strategies, plans to make media knowledge part of our daily discourse and have opportunities where all age groups get the right knowledge, to be responsible consumers of various media content", said Baleta.

The project "Media education against disinformation for non-majority communities in Kosovo", is supported by the Embassy of the United States in Prishtina. /Z. Zeneli/