The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a circular notifying the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) to take necessary steps for incorporating voter education and electoral literacy formally into the university/ college education system.
An official notification by the UGC reads, “This is in continuation of the UGC letter of even number dated 19th December, 2023. As you are aware, a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) has been signed between the Ministry of Education and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on 2nd November, 2023 to incorporate voter education and electoral literacy formally into the University/ College education system to prepare future and new voters for greater electoral participation. The Higher Education Institutions are requested to take necessary steps for operationalisation of the provisions of this MoU by making it an integral part of their functioning.”
As part of the MoU, Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) and Department of Higher Education (DoHE) are directed to undertake the following activities:
-Integrate voter education and electoral literacy appropriately in the curricular framework for all colleges/universities in a manner and to the extent of credit and hours suitable for different disciplines.
-Introduce/update textbooks of NCERT to incorporate electoral literacy and advise State Education Boards and other Boards to do the same.
-Orient/train teachers in imparting electoral literacy in the classrooms.
-Mainstream voter education content in teaching, learning and assessment, and voter education and electoral literacy in pre-service teacher education courses.
-Include Electoral Literacy in the curriculum for adult literacy and basic education, develop educational content on electoral processes for life-long learning and make electoral literacy an integrated component of life-long education.
-To regularly monitor the electoral literacy programme in all schools/colleges/universities at the national and state levels and to meet its objectives and ensure the non-political and non-partisan character of the collaboration.
