To increase electoral literacy among students, the state higher education department has issued guidelines to universities to prepare voter education and electoral literacy courses for students of various streams and assign necessary credits for the same.
Under the initiative of the electronic literacy club, trained campus ambassadors will be appointed in schools and colleges by conducting online and offline training of nodal teachers.
Also, in collaboration with the local election authorities, demonstrations of mock voting Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and competitions on electoral literacy will be held.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Central Election Commission and the Union Ministry of Education to ensure electoral literacy among students.
As per these instructions, teachers should be trained in accordance with electoral literacy. With the help of the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) portal and other databases, the students who have completed 17 years should be registered and the students who have completed 18 years of age should fill out an online voter registration form and issue voter identification card.
“Prospective voters should be thoroughly familiarised with the electoral system of the country. Instil in them a desire to register as voters and participate in every election in a keenly informed and ethical manner. Electoral literacy clubs should be formed in colleges along with other co-curricular activities to create voter awareness among students. Accordingly, the voter awareness campaign should be undertaken by the students,” said a senior education department official requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}“Prospective voters should be thoroughly familiarised with the electoral system of the country. Instil in them a desire to register as voters and participate in every election in a keenly informed and ethical manner. Electoral literacy clubs should be formed in colleges along with other co-curricular activities to create voter awareness among students. Accordingly, the voter awareness campaign should be undertaken by the students,” said a senior education department official requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}Amir Shaikh, a Class 12 student, said, “I am studying now in a private college and there was an election voting awareness program held in our college last week. I am excited to register myself for voting for the first time in forthcoming elections.”