AIJC President Ramon R. Tuazon was the resource person on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) at the 2015 Seminar of the UNESCO Resource Distribution and Training Centre (RDTC) held on 11-13 November at the South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China. The seminar theme was Teacher Training to Promote Safe, Effective and Responsible Use of ICT.

In Cebu City, AIJC Director for Research, Policy and Advocacy Ann Lourdes C. Lopez also explained the concept of MIL in her plenary presentation, “MIL: New Skills for a New World,” on 1 October during the 2015 National Literacy Congress held on 30 September-2 October at the Department of Education ECOTECH Center. It was attended by some 500 participants from DepEd, local government units, and nongovernment organizations.

At the China seminar, about 35 participants from several teacher training institutions (TEIs) in the Asia-Pacific region attended the seminar, including 13 participants from the Philippines. Among the Filipino participants were Dean Rosario Alonzo (UP), Dean Allan de Guzman (UST), Dean John Addy Garcia (De La Sale University), and professors from Mariano Marcos State University, University of the East, and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology.

Mr. Tuazon encouraged the TEIs to integrate MIL in the teacher training curriculum to provide teachers with necessary competencies needed for them not only to teach the course but also to mentor young people on MIL even outside the classrooms.

According to Tuazon, as the communication media now dominates every aspect of our lives – education, employment or livelihood, social relationship, political participation, and entertainment – media and information literacy has become indispensable.

For her part, Ms. Lopez shared how AIJC in partnership with UNICEF and ABS-CBN Bayan Mo iPatrol Mo (BMPM) is teaching MIL competencies to marginalized young people nationwide through a series of training-workshops on Citizen Journalism.

She pointed out that the 21st century brings with it new technologies and new media forms which require new literacies, and that MIL equips people with the skills needed for this “new world.”