Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones’s recent interview, through an exchange of text messages, was limited to the topic of whether field trips are mandatory. A question regarding millennials was not raised to her attention nor addressed by the Secretary. Briones, whose continuous efforts to reach all potential learners and integrate them into formal, non-formal, and informal education systems, did not and will not tag millennials as “mentally questionable” because of their circumstances in life nor of their preferences in acquiring information.

The Department is firm in strengthening the framework of critical thinking in the basic education curriculum. Learners, even at a young age, are taught and encouraged to go beyond the figures and develop a critical attitude toward all information presented to them. These young minds are being equipped with 21^st century skills to ensure that the next generation is capacitated to innovate, create, and embrace change without compromising ethics and integrity. The Secretary holds millennials in high regard and is confident that they will be able to discern between credible and false information.

As media practitioners whom budding journalists and the general Filipino audience look up to in delivering stories that impact their daily lives, journalists are largely accountable for the kind of news they deliver. Now, more than ever, DepEd is relentless in calling for the unbridled practice of responsible journalism.

Freedom of information and freedom of expression are shared responsibilities. This is emphasized in the 2017 National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) in Pagadian, wherein we aim to instill in the young participants the noble values of journalism that separate the wheat from the chaff: truth, accuracy, and accountability.

The Education chief cannot emphasize enough on the shared responsibility of the Department and its partner, the media, in imparting crucial information that affect the Filipino learners in their achievement of quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education.

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