Our Mission & Vision
Building the human foundations of a better future.
Mission
IMLF helps every young person in India read, question and create information with care, starting with news literacy.
Vision
Every student in India leaves school able to judge news and information, use AI wisely, stay safe online and speak clearly.
The challenge
Young India is online. The skills to judge what it sees are not keeping up.
Most teenagers now have a smartphone at home and spend time on social media. Far fewer know the basic steps to stay safe there, and false information travels through the same apps they use every day.
Young people are not short of information. They are short of simple habits for judging it: who made this, when, and how do they know? That is the gap IMLF works on.
76%
of rural 14-16 year olds who use a smartphone were on social media in the past week.
Source: ASER 2024, Pratham
38%
of those social media users did not know how to block or report a profile.
Source: ASER 2024, Pratham
53%
of Indian online news users named WhatsApp as the biggest channel for false or misleading information.
ASER 2024 surveyed rural youth aged 14-16. The Reuters Institute surveyed mainly English-speaking online news users, which is not a nationally representative sample. IMLF's own survey is in preparation.
Our approach
One literacy family, taught through books, school cyber clubs, workshops, professional training and research.
Talk simply
Plain words, and examples from students' own lives.
Let them discover
Follow students' “what if” questions instead of lecturing.
Story and fun
Stories, games and activities, from the epics to today's feeds.
One thing at a time
One topic and one age group per session.
Not one more subject
Something students look forward to, not extra load.
Listen and improve
Collect feedback and common doubts, then improve.
AI that makes them think
Our AI tools ask before they tell. Students do the thinking; a teacher stays in charge.
Measure real learning
We judge our work by what students can do on their own afterwards.