‘Early education can avert most criminal behaviour’

There will not be fake news if students are taught to discern truth from falsehood: Expert

PETALING JAYA: Most criminal behaviour, including the tendency to spread fake news, could have been avoided or reduced and controlled with early education, according to a criminologist.

Dr Geshina Ayu Mat Saat, who also specialises in industrial and occupational psychology, said teaching pupils as early as primary schools about fake news and how to differentiate false information from true ones is a primary crime prevention strategy.

“Primary prevention is directed at stopping the problem before it happens. This could involve reducing opportunities for crime, and strengthening community and social structures,” she said yesterday.

Geshina was asked if Malaysia, which is currently grappling with the spread of false information on the novel coronavirus outbreak, should adopt the model practised by Finland, the country that was only recently rated Europe’s most resistant nation to fake news.

The curriculum in Finland, which among other things teaches students to ask certain questions to themselves to differentiate fake news from real ones, was devised by its government in 2014.

Yesterday, two other crime experts suggested that Malaysia emulate Finland in introducing lessons in schools to teach students about fake news.

However, Geshina believes that apart from early education in schools, teaching children about moral and civic values should begin at home before they even enter formal education.

“If parents or guardians themselves model values, which are not positive or nurturing of good values and norms, then what is taught in school is likely not to shape the children as desired.”

Other than primary prevention, Geshina also called for secondary and tertiary crime prevention strategies to address the problem of fake news and other crimes from as many angles as possible.

Regarding secondary prevention, which seeks to change those at high risk of embarking on criminal activities, she proposed a rapid and effective early intervention like youth programmes, and targeting highrisk neighbourhoods by setting up dispute centres.

“Tertiary crime prevention focuses on the operation of the criminal justice system and deals with offenders after crimes have happened. Examples include community youth conferencing schemes, incapacitation and individual deterrence through community-based sanctions, and treatment interventions.”

Asked if actions taken by authorities at present were sufficient to deter Malaysians from spreading fake news, Geshina said it was not sufficient, adding awareness and reeducation efforts, as well as enforcement must be continuous.

If parents or guardians themselves model values, which are not positive or nurturing of good values and norms, then what is taught in school is likely not to shape the children as desired” – Dr Geshina Ayu Mat Saat