Why is voters’ education so important?

In the Philippines, the efforts to have a systematic and institutionalized voters education has yet to come to fruition. But why is voters education important? Voters education comes with an improvement of the educational Philippine system. Its institutionalization will not change the results of just one election cycle but will overall improve the conduct of politics and democracy in the country.

In this article, we’ll look at the reasons why voters’ education is important in the Philippines.

Recognition of fake news

In recent years, new ways of political machinery have emerged. The rise of social media has allowed politicians to be very creative in spreading propaganda beneficial to their campaigns. This oftentimes involves the mobilization of trolls or the spreading of fake news. The regular Filipino now finds themselves bombarded with all of this information, without the way to know whether this information is true or not.

It is important that voters’ education be integrated into the fellow Filipino people, starting from teaching it as a subject in schools so that when students reach the voting age, they are equipped with the knowledge necessary to recognize what is true and what is not.

High-stakes election

But more than the recognition of fake news, voters’ education, at its core, is also important so that all Filipinos have a basic understanding of the electoral process, their responsibilities, and their rights. An understanding of one’s role in the election process is important in order to have democratic conduct of elections.

The issue of democracy is even more essential considering that the Philippines, under the Duterte regime, experienced a turn towards a dictatorial style of leadership. Democracy has been at its all-time low these past six years since the post-EDSA Revolution with extrajudicial killings, human rights violations, and rampant violence against government critics.

In a country like the Philippines, one electoral cycle determines the future of the whole country in every aspect—whether it’d be at the local domestic level or in the international scene. Therefore, the voters must know everything they need to know to cast a very important vote that will not only determine the country’s future but also the future of their very own lives.