Day One of the five-day Training of Trainers on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) for School Counsellors, held in Punakha, successfully set the foundation today by introducing core MIL concepts and highlighting the growing role of media and emerging technologies in today’s society. A total of 25 school counsellors from across the country are participating in the training.

The training is organized by the Bhutan Media Foundation with support from the Department of Media, Creative Industry & Intellectual Property (DoMCIIP) through Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) funding, and in collaboration with the Department of Education Programmes, MOESD.

The training aims to strengthen the capacity of school counsellors to promote responsible media engagement and critical information practices within schools and communities. It also seeks to empower participants to design ethical media and information content, and to serve as trainers and focal persons for MIL initiatives in their respective schools and communities.

The programme includes sessions on the nature of media and media messages, social media and emerging challenges, fact-checking, news fundamentals, GenAI, media regulatory and policy frameworks, and MIL facilitation skills. The first-day sessions were facilitated by the Executive Director of the Bhutan Media Foundation and Mr. Sangay Tenzin, Assistant Programme Officer from DoMCIIP.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Mr. Binod Pradhan, Chief, DoMCIIP, for the opening remarks of the training programme, and to Mr. Sangay Tenzin for delivering an insightful and engaging session on Media Landscape of Bhutan and Effects of Media, which enriched participants’ understanding of the national media context