PPCRV Pushes For Voters Education In Schools

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting is pushing for the inclusion of voters’ education in the college curriculum. The PPCRV is reportedly in talks with private Catholic schools for this and is also discussing the matter with public universities and colleges.

It is estimated that in 2010 the number of youth voters (between 18 to 34 years old) in the Philippines will have reached 34 million.  The Commission on Elections says about 9 million of this number will be first-time voters. Educating these new voters on the importance of elections and how they should evaluate candidates will do this country a lot of good.

I remember when I first exercised my right to vote I merely followed how my elders voted. When they said this candidate was the better choice I simply took their word for it and voted for that candidate.

I was already working the second time I voted. I was already what should be considered a ‘mature’ voter by then. The truth is I was not. Even then I wasn’t really giving the elections as much thought as I should have. I did not familiarize myself with the candidates much less their platforms and track records. I was clearly an uninformed voter and as such I just based my choices on name recall. And, when I ran out of familiar names to pick I resorted to random selection.

I suspect many of this generation’s youth voters will be just like how I was back then — uninformed and apathetic to the whole electoral exercise. I hope I’ll be proven wrong.

This latest effort by the PPCRV is commendable. I’m just wondering though if it would be better to start the youth on voters education earlier. I would suggest offering the same to high school students as well. It wouldn’t hurt to start them young considering that voting is an important responsibility. Proper voters’ education focusing on critical analysis of candidates should help mold the younger generations into wise and responsible voters and improve this country’s chances for positive change.