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Empowering Adolescents and Youths through Media and Information

Literacy

Dr. Md. Roknuzzaman is a Professor of the Department of Information Science and Library Management,

University of Dhaka. Dr. Roknuzzaman obtained his Ph. D. Degree from the School of Knowledge Science,
Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan. He got Japanese Government

(Monbukagakusho) Scholarship for completing his Doctoral Programme. He has more than 20 years of
experience in research and teaching. His research interest includes Knowledge Management, Digital Library
System, Library and Information Science, Knowledge Sharing, Adoption of Innovation, Human Resource
Management, Interdisciplinary Studies and so on. He has more than 30 publication which includes peer
reviewed referred journal articles and conference papers.

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The 9 Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week is going to be celebrated from 24 to 31
October 2020 in collaboration with UNESCO and the Republic of Korea. The celebration of the Global
MIL Week 2020 during this global pandemic will certainly add new dimension and value with the theme
of “Resisting Disinfodemic: Media and Information Literacy for Everyone and by Everyone”. I am
delighted that this time, as in previous years, the Department of Information Studies and Library
Management of the East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh is celebrating the Global MIL Week with
various colorful events in line with global community.

Media and information are two of the most important components of the new social system upon which
depend our socio-economic structure, standard of living, and age of progress. To achieve sustainable
national development, every citizen of a country should have media and information literacy skills. Such
literacy can certainly empower people to seek, evaluate, use and create media and information effectively
in order to pursue their personal, social, academic, research, professional, recreational and cultural needs.
During the global pandemic, access to information and media via digital platforms has become an
essential ingredient of day-to-day life. At the same time, the rise of ‘online fake news’ and various
discourses like mis-information, disinformation and mal-information have posed a great threat to every
sphere of human life. The adolescents and youths who are innocent, flexible and soft minded are
becoming affected by the curse of explosive growth and mal practice of information and media. An
Australian study alarmingly found that over 90% of boys and 60% of girls in ages 13-16 had accessed to
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harmful content online .
In Bangladesh, there are around 36 million adolescents, making up 22 per cent of the population. Most of
the adolescents and youths are bound to spend their time more on virtual platform during COVID-19 due
to closure of schools, colleges and universities. They are smart consumers of information and media
messages. They are picking up new social and cognitive skills at a stunning pace, and it is undoubtedly a
one-step progress for implementing Government’s vision of building digital Bangladesh by 2021. On the
other hand, there is a great possibility of enjoying the freedom of open access to harmful content by this
group unless and until they are becoming valued media and information literate citizens. It is a burning
issue to ensure a healthy, safe and secured online world to protect this large group by promoting media
and information literacy skills, knowledge and competencies throughout the country.

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1 Available at https://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/2010-media-and-information-literacy.html?next=2010

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