Police have not disclosed a suspected motive for the attack (representative)
London:
The British government said on Sunday that planned changes to the national curriculum in England could teach children how to recognise extremist and online content that spreads “lame conspiracy theories”.
Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said she would launch an overhaul of the primary and secondary school curriculum to promote critical thinking in several subjects.
Previously, riots had broken out in more than a dozen English towns following the knife attack in Southport. Officials said these were fuelled by misinformation on the internet and right-wing extremist agitators.
Three children were killed in the stabbing, allegedly carried out by then 17-year-old Briton Axel Rudakubana. Police have not disclosed a suspected motive for the attack, but said the attack is not being classified as terrorism.
Immediately after the tragedy, there was false speculation on the Internet that Rudakubana was a Muslim immigrant.
“It is more important than ever that we give young people the knowledge and skills to counter what they see online,” Phillipson told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
“That’s why, as part of our curriculum review, we will be developing plans to embed critical skills into lessons and arm our children against the disinformation, fake news and disgusting conspiracy theories circulating on social media.”
Under the planned changes, students in English classes will be asked to analyze newspaper articles to identify fabricated clickbait, and computer classes will be asked to analyze statistics in context.
However, the results and recommendations of the study will not be presented until next year, so according to the Telegraph, the reforms would not come into force until the school year beginning in September 2025.
These measures will be accompanied by stricter regulation of social media sites and online content, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing imminent action on Friday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
