STUDENTS should be on the lookout for fake news or misinformation especially those coming from their teachers, an educator from the Ateneo de Manila University said.

Ateneo Policy Center Senior Fellow Imelda Deinla stressed that learners should not be afraid to engage with their teachers “to ask them about their ideas or to also express your own opinions.”

She added that students can demand accountability from teachers sharing misinformation.

“To our youth, it’s really important na we exercise our critical thinking. Kailangan din talaga na magtanong tayo sa ating teachers dun sa sources nila,” Deinla said during a virtual forum hosted by the Ateneo School of Government and FEU TAMang Boto.

“If the teachers are actually requiring you to produce sources of information, dapat din i-require din natin sila,” she pointed out.

“It’s really high time that students should be more assertive especially in this environment of fake news,” she said.

Deinla called on the Department of Education to “screen and regulate educational materials spreading lies or historical distortion.”

“Napakalaki talaga ng problema natin if the teachers themselves are actually engaged in spreading fake news and historical distortion,” she said.

“The leadership with the DepEd should be onboard on countering fake news and as we know, some of the educational materials are precisely revising this. So dapat magkaroon ng screening at i-regulate talaga itong educational materials na nagpapakita ng lies or nagpapakalat ng lies or distortion sa ating history,” she added.