Electoral Literacy and Voter Education to be included in NCERT

Very soon, as part of the curriculum and extracurricular interventions at educational institutions, school and college students will learn about their future role and responsibilities as voters in the electoral process. The Ministry of Education and the Election Commission of India (ECI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on voting literacy in New Delhi on 2nd November 2023.

The Memorandum of Understanding emphasises the creation of an institutional framework aimed at formally integrating electoral literacy into the curriculum of schools and universities. This comprises organised co-curricular, extracurricular, and curriculum activities; all of these will contribute to bettering democracy by educating new and prospective voters and enabling them to participate in elections to a larger extent. It is essential to grab young people's attention and teach them the importance and worth of voting.

Features of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on electoral literacy 

• Voter education and electoral literacy should be systematically included into all school curricula, beginning in grades 6 through 12.
• This integration will also apply to all colleges' and universities' curriculum, which will be modified to accommodate various fields and appropriately acknowledged.
• NCERT is going to incorporate information on voting literacy into its new and updated textbooks, and it will also advise State Education Boards and other Boards to do the same.
• Focuses on preparing and orienting educators to teach electoral literacy in the classroom.
• Encourages State Education Departments to take ownership of starting Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) in universities and schools.