Stella Maris College Chennai launches an awareness Campaign ‘Kannai Nambathey’ on digital literacy

The student-led initiative will focus on fighting misinformation.

The final-year students of the M.A. Public Relations program at Stella Maris College launched their awareness campaign ‘Kannai Nambathey’ on August 18, 2025, at its premises. Centred on the slogan ‘Pause. Verify. Click.’, the initiative addresses the growing challenge of digital misinformation and emphasizes the importance of responsible online engagement through verifying and fact-checking.

The campaign was inaugurated by Dr. (Sr) Stella Mary, Principal, Stella Maris College, who commended the students for bridging academic learning with social responsibility. The ceremony was graced by Chief Guest Ms.Induja Raghunathan, Editor of YourStory Tamil, fact-checker, and founder of Meifactory. In her speech, she stressed the urgency of fact-checking and media literacy in today’s fast-paced digital era, noting: “We can stop this trend by first not sharing or forwarding misinformation.” She also praised the campaign’s identity, adding that ‘Kannai Nambathey’ is an apt and evocative title, for it encapsulates the very essence of the campaign’s message — urging people to discern wisely before they believe and act.

The event also included a mascot unveiling and an interactive activity where the students of the college got to exercise their AI-identifying skills. The campaign will run until September 2025 and utilise social and physical outreach efforts to raise awareness of the issue. The initiative shows the Department’s dedication to ethical Public Relations and impactful communication in today’s digital world.