Helping the young vote

Today’s youth care about issues, yet are reluctant to vote — a gap that must be bridged

THE LARGEST DEMOCRACY in the world is voting in the 18th Lok Sabha elections ON Friday. According to the Election Commission of India, less than 40 per cent of voters between the age of 18 and 19 have registered for the 2024 elections across the country. This is concerning.

Why are the youngest eligible voters hesitant to exercise their franchise? The lowest rates of enrollment are in Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Why are we not able to engage this demographic, considering that the states mentioned have large youth populations?

Many among our young feel that politicians and political parties do not advocate agendas that appeal to them. They do not have faith in a top-down approach, particularly in a political process. There is no guidebook that can easily sort out dilemmas in a world of ambiguous interpretations and incomplete awareness of what a real political system should be.

In school, even in the senior-most classes, reflection and analysis get little encouragement, leaving young people unable to understand the impact of their decisions, particularly when they vote for the first time. No one teaches them the realities that give meaning to their choices, nor are they taught to connect with the multiple processes and relationships outside themselves, which will help to clarify their vision.

In India, every fifth person is between 10 and 19 years of age. A young vote matters, his or her voice matters. When the ballot is cast, the little mark on the index finger shows that the country matters.

When our young vote, they take part in something that is much bigger than any one person. We must orient the youth to believe that there are very few actions more influential than voting, and their decision will impact their lives in a myriad ways.

Before they go out to vote, they must be sensitised towards issues that affect them locally and nationally and make informed choices.

Participation in elections is a key freedom. Those who don’t vote should realise that there will be trouble as democracy will not realise its potential. Good governments come into place only when the whole country votes together.

When politicians chase votes, the young coming out of schools are often ignored. If issues that affect young adults, like subsidies in tuition fees in higher education, better quality livelihoods and health care, are not spotlighted during campaigns, the interest in voting declines.

Gen Z has been stereotyped as uncaring, apathetic and lazy. As an educator, my interactions with students has led me to believe that they do care — they are passionate about social action, they volunteer in greater numbers than any generation before them. Never before have there been so many youth protests, revivals and pressure groups that have effected change.

This is a generation which has witnessed societal unrest, and whose lives have been complicated and shaped by the pandemic and climate change.

Young people are constantly consuming information and can access anything through social media. Political memes are defining their choices. They tend to campaign online. Considering they are a digital generation, it is ludicrous that voting is not online. It’s unrealistic to expect young people to queue up to tick the ballot boxes. Over 90 per cent of them use the internet at least five times in a week. If voting is allowed online, a greater number are likely to vote. If bank transactions can be made secure, so can online voting.

The problem is that the young don’t know how to gauge the difference between political parties, one reason being that youth-centred agendas are limited. The education system doesn’t orient them to understand the who and why of voting. The young today are unable to draw lessons in political behaviour from society.

Today’s youth are full of new ideas, they are more connected than previous generations. Boundaries in their personal lives have become blurred due to technology. Activism has become aligned with all that they think and do. They participate more than any other age group in innumerable causes. During discussions in progressive schools, what has emerged is that students believe that they need to stand up for themselves, the environment, the marginalised, LGBTQIA+ rights, justice for minorities, and access to education. Each of them has a voice that can turn society on its head; it’s about feeling responsible, passionate, and empowered to use it.

To the young voters of today: Please cast your ballots, because there are tools that give you a voice that is louder than that of any other generation in history.

The writer is Chairperson and Executive Director Education, Innovations and Training, DLF Schools and Scholarship Programmes