26/04/2026
The Bytewise Stakeholder Dialogue brought together educators, fact-checkers, media literacy practitioners, and students to reflect on a question that feels more urgent than ever: how are young people making sense of the information they encounter every day?
Because the challenge today is not access.
Information is everywhere, fast, constant, and often unverified. The real gap lies in the ability to pause, question, and evaluate what we see before we believe or share it.
The dialogue opened with a keynote by Mr.Syed Nazakat, Co-founder, DataLEADS, who highlighted the urgency of strengthening media literacy in an increasingly complex information ecosystem. This was followed by insights from Mr. K.S. Upadhyay, Additional Director of Education and CEO, Delhi Board of School Education (Government of NCT Delhi), who spoke about Delhi Schools and Education in the 21st Century, placing media literacy within the broader shifts in education.
The expert panel brought together Dr.Kulveen Trehan (GGSIPU), Prof. Anubhuti Yadav (IIMC), Divya Chandra (BOOM), and Titha Ghosh (Youth Ki Awaaz). The discussion reflected on the evolving challenges of misinformation, the growing influence of AI, and the need to move beyond awareness towards structured, long-term integration of media literacy in education.
But what stood out most were the student voices.
Through the student panel featuring Mayank Kushwaha (Delhi University), Niharika Singh (BVICAM, GGSIPU), Laiba Hashmi (Delhi University), Anushka (CM Shri School, Rohini), and Khushi Bisht (DMIL Senior Fellow), young people spoke clearly about what is missing. They emphasised that critical thinking is essential, that DMIL must be sustained rather than one-time, and that these are life skills that go beyond classrooms.
That shift from awareness to core competency is where the conversation is heading.
The dialogue was not about final answers. It was about aligning perspectives and recognizing that building media literacy will require collective effort, continuity, and collaboration.
More detailed insights and expert verbatims will be shared soon. Stay tuned!
Venu Arora Ramakrishnan Nagarajan Imran Nazir
