UGC asks all HEIs to incorporate voter education & electoral literacy under SVEEP Programme

Ministry of Education and the Election Commission of India (ECI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement SVEEP. UGC in its latest notice has asked all HEIs to disseminate the information and take necessary steps to take up related activities. 

The University Grant Commission (UGC) in a latest notice informed that the Ministry of Education and the Election Commission of India (ECI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement SVEEP. The notice stated, “The ECI is implementing its flagship programme called Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) that aims at universal and enlightened participation of all eligible citizens in elections inter alia by addressing urban and youth apathy.”

“Continuous Electoral and Democracy Education (CEDE) is an important component of SVEEP strategy/ which needs to be formalized and grounded in the school and higher education system to motivate future voters for greater electoral participation that would enable them to be responsible citizens who take pride in being a part of our democratic system in an informed manner with a sense of duty and purpose to strengthen our democracy,” it further added.

The notice asked all HEIs to disseminate the information and take necessary steps to take up related activities. It said, “As a part of implementing the SVEEP programme, a MoU has been signed between the Ministry of Education and ECI on November 2, 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 suggested activities in the MoU are given in the Annexure. The Higher Educational Institutions are requested to disseminate the information and take necessary steps to take up the suggested activities mentioned in the Annexure for deepening the spirit of democracy in the country.,"

• Integrate voter education and electoral literacy appropriately in the curricular framework for all colleges / universities in a manner and to the extent of credit & hours suitable for different disciplines.
• Orient / train teachers in imparting electoral literacy in the classrooms.
• Create an institutional framework for using anonymised & aggregated UDISE (Unified District information System for Education), All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) and other databases of students who have attained 17+ years of age with due regard to data privacy and protection with a view to facilitating online voter registration of eligible and prospective students after every qualifying date ( 1^st January, 1^st April, 1^st July and 1^st October of every calendar year) and during the Annual Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls (in the last quarter of every calendar year) using voter registration portals and mobile apps of ECI: evolve a robust mechanism to fulfill the aspirational goal of ECI to handover the Voter ID card to every student of the country immediately after their attaining the age of 18 years.
• Conduct online / offline / blended training of nodal teachers for organising ELC activities and appoint / train campus ambassadors in schools and colleges to lead the ELC activities.
• Devise a system of credits for students taking part in CEDE to pursue higher studies.

Read the complete notice here.

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