Chennai, June 29: Tamil Nadu’s government schools will conduct student elections next month as part of a state-level initiative. This program aims to teach school children the fundamentals of democracy and participatory governance.
The School Education Department has integrated the ‘Student Parliament’ initiative into the current academic session. Through this program, students will experience the electoral process, including campaigning, manifesto creation, voting, and the formation of a student cabinet.
Officials believe this initiative will help students understand the importance of elections, leadership, accountability, and collective decision-making from a young age.
Under this program, each government school will form five student houses. Each house will have a House Captain and a Student Minister. The House Captain will be selected either by lottery or by a show of hands, while the Student Minister will be elected through a formal voting process.
The election for House Captains will be completed by July 3. Candidates for the Student Minister position will campaign on July 6, presenting their election manifestos detailing the activities and initiatives they plan to implement if elected.
Eligibility to contest elections is limited to students in Class 5 in primary schools, Class 8 in secondary schools, Class 9 in high schools, and Class 11 in higher secondary schools. Voting will take place on July 7, with students from each class casting separate votes to elect one minister from each of the five houses.
The elected representatives will oversee five key departments, including Education, Student Welfare and Safety, Information and Communication, Environment and Climate Action, and Health, Sanitation, and Cleanliness. These ministries will be allocated among the five elected Student Ministers through a lottery.
To ensure gender representation, co-educational schools have been instructed to appoint House Captains and Student Ministers of different genders in each house. If the House Captain is a boy, the corresponding Student Minister will be a girl, and vice versa.
The newly elected student leaders will take their oaths of office on July 10. Each house will have its own flag, badges for House Captains and Student Ministers, and a scoreboard to track points earned in competitions and other school activities. Additionally, a teacher coordinator will be appointed to oversee the operations and monitoring of the Student Parliament.
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