ECI signs MoU with the Ministry of Education
Context:
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Education aimed at integrating electoral literacy into the educational system.
Relevance:
GS-02 (Government policies and interventions)
Key points from the MoU:
- It emphasizes on developing an institutional framework to formally introduce electoral literacy into the school and college curriculum.
- It extends the ECI’s flagship Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) program to schools and colleges.
- The MoU addresses the issue of disinterest in the electoral process among urban and young individuals, with the aim of encouraging their involvement in voting and the democratic process in future elections.
- Highlighting the 67.4% voter turnout in the 2019 general elections, the ECI’s objective is to improve this figure.
Salient features of the MoU:
- Integration of voter education and electoral literacy into the curriculum, starting from classes 6 to 12 in all schools, and subsequently at the university level.
- It also includes updating textbooks to include material on electoral literacy.
- It focuses on training teachers in this field.
- The MoU encourages to establish of Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs) in schools and colleges.
- Encouragement of various activities to promote voter awareness among students is also an integral part.
- It aims to provide voter ID cards to every student upon turning 18.
- It aims to designate one room in every senior secondary school as the ‘Democracy Room’ for the regular display of voter education materials and the conduct of Continuous Electoral and Democracy Education (CEDE) activities throughout the year.
