During the course of 2019, the Communications Commission and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport will jointly implement five media literacy projects for children, involving parents and teachers. The announcement was made by the Education Minister Mikheil Batiashvili during the presentation of education system reforms.

The projects have been selected based on the analysis of successful practices from EU countries, assessment of their effectiveness and the potential for their implementation in Georgia. Information about the projects was announced by the Head of Department for Media Literacy Development at GNCC, Khatuna Ivanishvili. According to her, the projects will help children develop vital skills such as: 

Learning the basics of computer sciences; 

- Evaluating and analysing online content;

- Identifying false information (fake news, propaganda, harmful information);

- Critically analysing the source of information and establishing the author’s possible motivation;

- Effective and safe participation in the digital and creative economy.

“We would like to highlight the “Hello Ruby” project – a series of books that are used by primary school children to learn the basics of computer sciences, as well as critical assessment and analysis skills. As part of the education reforms, selected schools will start using this book in September,” Khatuna Ivanishvili stated.

To effectively deliver information about online threats to the children and to develop their skills in safely navigating the digital environment, an online application and board game will be created in Georgian language. Short educational courses will be held on the subject of principles of the digital media economy. Further initiatives include a media literacy competition and a national online platform that brings together various media literacy issues, targeting different audiences.

“As part of our reforms, we will ensure that technology and innovations are taught from primary school. Programming is now an integral part of the learning process in the modern world, and it is important for children to become involved in this process as early as possible.  Media literacy development assumes an increasingly crucial role in the age of information and technology. To this end, we will be implementing several joint projects with the Communications Commission. In September, we will introduce the “Hello Ruby” books in schools. We have translated them into Georgian language, and will be training teachers in passing this knowledge on to the pupils,” Mikheil Batiashvili stated.

The function of promoting and developing media literacy was afforded to the Communications Commission as a result of legislative changes introduced by the Georgian Parliament at the end of 2017. In late 2018, the Commission created the Media Literacy Department, which will be responsible for development of media literacy in the society.