Let’s talk about democracy ar Victoria Primary School

The second annual Schools Democracy Week (SDW) kicked off on October 13 in schools as part of a joint project between the Electoral Commission of South Africa and the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to educate young people about democracy.

This was part of the initiative by IEC and DBE to take electoral democracy into the classroom. The campaign seeks to teach young people on democracy matters with the hope that this will later increase young voter registration at election time. The IEC and Education department stated that they have realised that though young people make up the majority of the population in the country, it is only a few that take part in elections.

The session held at Victoria Primary School on October 16 was geared to enabling pupils to freely discuss issues surrounding democracy, like why do we vote. The session was conducted by Musa Langa from IEC. The grade seven pupils at Victoria Primary debated their concerns over service delivery and corruption. Ultimately, they showed eagerness to make a difference in the near future by voting. Musa encouraged them to continue the discussion on democracy with their families and friends.