Petition · past parliament

Make non-partisan political education compulsory in schools up to the age of 16

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

UK citizens are asked to make decisions on matters of immense national concern, but many of us have been given little or no political education in school. A society cannot be considered truly democratic if its citizens are not all equipped with the knowledge and skills to make an informed decision.
In the run-up to elections and referendums, media sources and politicians sometimes prey on voters' bewilderment by propagating false information or distorting the facts.

In the longer term, the situation could be improved if citizens are equipped in schools with a basic knowledge of the structure and functioning of the UK political system and other bodies, and key skills such as the ability to assess the credibility, reliability or bias of information sources and to debate issues openly.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

27 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
28 Jun 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 28 Jun 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.