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Interactive lessons encourage young people to vote

1 min read Education Citizenship
The Cabinet Office has launched an "interactive lesson framework" for teachers and youth workers as part of its commitment to engage more young people in public life.

Rock Enrol! contains games and materials designed to encourage young people to discuss the issues most important to them, while considering why they should register to vote.

One of the features of the resource, co-created by the grassroots campaign group Bite the Ballot, is a 20-minute activity where students decide how the government should spend its money. The aim is to encourage them to think about who makes these decisions in real life and how voters can influence the politicians who make them.

Rock Enrol closes with a 10-minute discussion, where students are invited to complete voter registration forms.

The Cabinet Office, which took over responsibility for youth policy earlier this year, has launched the initiative in an attempt to improve voter registration levels among young people and to encourage them to take an active role in public life.

According to the Cabinet Office, just 55 per cent of 17- and 18-year-olds are registered to vote, compared with 90 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “It is a resource for teachers and anyone to use that we think will be able to get young people engaged in the voting system and onto the electoral register.

“It is about reaching out through schools to 16- and 17-year-olds and encouraging them to get involved at the elections.

“We’ve piloted it for the last year and it’s had some great results.”

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