Political parties urged to pursue civic education
Mrs Judith Fanny Kumah, Director, Literature and Material Development of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on political parties to place premium on civic education to guarantee national stability.
She noted that even though Ghana had chalked remarkable achievements in its democratic dispensation, the country remained polarized.
Speaking on Tuesday at a closing ceremony of a three-day teacher training workshop on “Project Citizen Ghana”, Mrs Kumah stressed that it was imperative to educate and to equip the citizenry with the requisite civic knowledge and skills to consolidate the country’s fledgling democracy.
The Commission organised the workshop on the theme: “towards effective implementation of Project Citizen Ghana” with support from Hanns Seidel Foundation, a German Non-Governmental Organisation.
It was attended by more than 20 teachers drawn from selected second cycle institutions in Brong-Ahafo.
Mrs Kumah, who is the National Coordinator of Project Citizen Ghana, emphasized that since Ghana was internationally recognized as the beacon of Africa in democratic governance, there was the need to imbibe in the citizenry civic virtues, knowledge and skills so they could participate in the socio-economic and political development of the country.
Project Citizen Ghana was introduced by the NCCE to equip the youth in schools to be actively involved in the decision making process of their communities and to know how to examine existing policies and formulate their own to address particular problems in their areas.
“Democracy is more than the sum of its institutions. A healthy democracy depends, in a large part, on the development of democratic civic culture”, Mrs Kumah stated, stressing “such a civic culture stems from the behaviour, practices and norms that define the ability of the people to lead decent lives and be able to truly govern themselves at every level”.
Mr Michael Amponsah, Deputy Regional Director of the NCCE, stated that knowledge of Project Citizen Ghana was the most significant foundation upon which to build comprehensive, inclusive and integrated life-long and life-wide process of participation of the young people in decision making.
“Given the magnitude of the developmental challenge in our communities, we urgently need Project Citizen to save us as a nation. It is about learning how to be a responsible and effective good citizen”, he stated.
Mr Amponsah advised the participants to go back and impart the knowledge they had acquired to enable their respective students to participate meaningfully in decision making processes.
Source: GNA