The second annual Schools Democracy Week took place this week as part of a joint project between the Electoral Commission of South Africa and the Department of Basic Education to educate young people about democracy.
The second annual Schools Democracy Week took place this week as part of a joint project between the Electoral Commission of South Africa and the Department of Basic Education to educate young people about democracy.
The project is designed to increase youth registration and to educate youth and first-time voters on registration and voting.
The long-term objective is to entrench active participation as fundamental civic responsibilities and to add electoral democracy content into the formal school curriculum at all levels.
Some 40% of South Africa's population of about 53 million people was born after the advent of our democracy in 1994 and nearly two-thirds of our population is under 35 years of age.
However, only 28% of potential voters under 30 voted in the 7 May 2014 elections compared to an average turnout of over 60% for those aged 40 and older and 70% for those aged 60 and older.
Teaching and learning support materials developed to support the activities have been distributed to provincial and local offices of the Electoral Commission, including: a 58-page booklet “Becoming a Good Citizen: Electoral Democracy Toolkit” for learners in secondary schools in FET and a 95-page booklet “Not Too Young – Teaching Electoral Democracy to Young South Africans” for primary schools.
All materials and classroom activities are linked to co-curricular activities and social media opportunities on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
For more details on the programme and materials, visit the IEC website at www.elections.org.za or the Department of Basic Education’s website at http://www.education.gov.za/
