Published 19 June 2026
Buckie Got It,
St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATORS PARTICIPATE IN UNESCO HYBRID MIL WORKSHOP
Basseterre: St. Kitts, Friday, June 18, 2026: A cohort of special education teachers assembled
at the St. Kitts Cooperative Credit Union’s Conference Room on Thursday, to participate in a
one-day UNESCO Media Information Literacy (MIL) Training for Educators. The activity
conducted in a hybrid format was hosted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and catered
to educators in St. Kitts and Nevis as well as Grenada.
The learning objective of this session centered around instructing educators on ways to improve
their professional growth using MIL while championing the use of Google Classroom to promote
classroom inclusivity, thereby enriching the teaching and learning environment and facilitating
remote learning.
Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Hanley, Minister of Education, in an address emphasized the importance of
technology and educational integration as a catalyst for inclusive classrooms adaptive to students
with disabilities.
“Education is our first line of defense in the fight against misinformation. In a world where a
single post can shape minds faster than a textbook chapter, media information and literacy is no
longer an extra subject. It is a life skill. It is how our youth learn to question, to verify, to think
critically, and to use digital spaces to build, not destroy. That responsibility is even greater when
we speak of inclusion. Every child deserves the tools to navigate this digital world safely and
confidently – including students with physical and learning disabilities.
Dr. Hanley shared the preceding speakers’ views on the educational advantage of the training.
“Training educators of children with special needs in media and information literacy is not
optional- It is essential. It means ensuring our hearing-impaired students can evaluate online
sources through visual tools. It means our students with learning disabilities get adaptive strategies to spot fake news and protect their mental health online. It means every classroom,
virtual or physical, becomes a space where no child is left behind in the digital age.”
H.E. Ambassador Nerys Dockery, Secretary-General of the St. Kitts-Nevis National Commission
for UNESCO, reaffirmed how essential Media Information Literacy is to help learners navigate
the current digital landscape, articulated.
“It gives me great delight to be part of this distinguished roster addressing you this morning
about a topic that is so timely. As you have heard, Media Information Literacy has never been
more urgent than it is today. With a single scroll, our students are exposed to floods of content,
some truthful, some misleading, and much of it is designed to provoke rather than inform. If they
cannot pause, question sources, and recognize manipulation, misinformation spreads faster than
facts and shapes how they see themselves, their community, and the world.”
Ambassador Dockery conveyed words of gratitude to UNESCO’s Regional Office for the
Caribbean and reinforced the benefits derived from the MIL workshop.
“I would like to thank the Regional UNESCO Office for providing this opportunity to join
Antigua and Barbuda and others in this workshop. Training teachers of students with special
needs in Media Information Literacy is especially vital because these learners often face extra
barriers to accessing, processing, and verifying information. When we equip our educators with
MIL tools and inclusive strategies, we give every child, regardless of ability, the confidence to
think critically, stay safe online and become responsible digital citizens.”
Topics the training focused on were Media Information Literacy Awareness, Curriculum and
Policy, Creating and Managing Classes using Google Classroom, and Enhancing Student
engagement and communicating remotely in real-time.
