However, to take up our role, to fulfil our duties and rights, we have to be informed; we have to know how to actively participate. Our children should have all the knowledge they need to be valuable, informed citizens. It is important that education in democracy starts at home and continues in schools.
Accurate and up-to-date information on what parliament is doing is a prerequisite for citizens participating in parliament’s work. Therefore, there is a need to implement an educational program showing how the parliament works, how laws are formed, and how society can participate in the legislative process. Children and youth should be provided with this information and encouraged to be involved in democratic processes. On the other hand, there is also a need to create a more accessible and communicative parliament. There are already quite a few examples of implementing parliamentary education programs designed in countries with a highly developed parliamentary system.
Parliamentary education is defined as supporting positive relations between citizens and parliament and cultivating citizens capable of participating in the legislative process by providing education on democracy, human rights, constitutional history, parliamentary history, the activities of legal bodies, and shared knowledge about these matters.
Under the Strategic Plan of the State Great Khural and the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan of the Secretariat of the State Great Khural, the Secretariat of the State Great Khural, with assistance from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, developed the Parliamentary Education Program, complete with textbooks for teachers and students. The first training for the program was attended by Youth Parliament 2021 participants. The training participants learned what the State Great Khural is, how laws are made, what rights and responsibilities children have, and what they need to do to have their voices heard in parliament.
“I learned a lot from attending the Parliamentary Education Program. Parliament and citizens are two sides of the same coin. We, the children, must be involved in the parliamentary process because the laws passed by the parliament affect everyone's life,” said Nandin-Erdene N., a Youth Parliament 2021 participant.
In the future, the Parliamentary Education Program will be implemented nationwide to educate children and youth on what it means to vote in elections, how to analyse candidate platforms, and how to participate in the legislative process.
