Many children from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities are dropping out of school because of bullying. Labeling them in the media because of the dire financial conditions and the work they are forced to do to survive has often affected the children. The young people of the three communities are facing bullying and stigmatization in schools, for which they give up their education.

This was said in today's training, where about 20 students and teachers of schools in Fushë Kosovë were trained on media education.

Today also started the second phase of teacher training on the topic "Misinformation, disinformation and malicious information", within the project "Media education for teachers of students from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities".

16-year-old Olti Currolli, who attends the "Minatori" school, says that many of his peers have left school halfway through.

"There have been many cases that come to us (the media) and shoot, but they don't shoot the good cases, they shoot the children who go out to collect cans, and according to this, half of the friends have left school. He regrets that "Someone who collects cans advertises to them and when they come to school they tell them about the case they saw and they leave school because of it," says Currolli.

These cases are not few, says the English language professor at the "Minatori" vocational school, Skurta Sertolli.

"A bad visual image is presented, the picture is cracked somewhere, then he is disappointed....they took a picture because we have digitization tools, they took a picture of two or three children taking the canaks, half of the children's faces are shown. We know the social situation, but it does not make it appear visually, it is a loss of trust and two steps behind the community that has come out. It is very harmful in general but also for other communities. It is not real, that tomorrow that child can become a doctor", she says.

According to her, children are being attacked with a large number of information, which in some cases are violating the dignity of children of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

Ensar Mustafa, who also attends the "Minatori" vocational school, says that such trainings help him to identify fake news.

"I analyzed them well and mentioned some things about the media, about the radios. For me they are very important because there are some who make fake news... There are young people who make videos on Tik-Tok or on Instagram and show them and they make memes with those videos, where they have nothing to do with those things and they put them in a bad position and you are afraid to post a video because it becomes viral and when you go out on the street they bully you", he tells KosovaPress.

The project manager, Fadil Miftari, says that it is important for young people to be able to distinguish the real news from those that are intended to misinform.

"This activity is the resumption of a training cycle, which will be held in four municipalities of Kosovo. It starts with Fushë Kosova, continues with Mitrovica, Prizren and Gjakova. This activity is part of the project "Media Education for teachers and young people of the communities" . The project aims to raise the awareness of young people of these categories on how to protect themselves against disinformation. As you know, disinformation has become a global concern not only in our society, all societies are facing a challenge with disinformation, because the Internet and the technology of the world contemporary has made it possible for anyone to crack, however they want and what they want", he said.

The students and teachers who participated in this training also improvised a news edition, with the main information of Saturday.

With the financial support from the American Embassy in Pristina, the "KosovaPress" News Agency, together with the non-governmental organization "Young Community Leaders Center/YCLC", is organizing these trainings within the seven-month project, which aims to raise the awareness of communities against disinformation. as well as strengthening the role of civil society activists from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities.

The project included two phases, where in the first phase the teachers of primary schools from the sixth to the ninth grade were involved.

Meanwhile, the second phase has already started, involving professors and secondary school students from grades 10 to 12.

The project "Media education against disinformation for teachers, students and civil society activists from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities", is supported by the United States Embassy in Pristina.