The Kadjebi District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Daniel Agbesi Latsu, has called on the youth in schools across the country to help educate Ghanaians on the values, principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution.
Mr Latsu said understanding of the Constitution would enable citizens to know the rules, demands and ethics of democratic party politics.
He said adequate knowledge on the Constitution would also enable the electorate to participate fully in the processes involved in the governance of the country at all levels.
Mr Latsu who made these statements at the inauguration of the Kadjebi Girls’ Model Junior High School (JHS) Civic Education Club (CEC) at Kadjebi in the Volta Region said the Constitution made civic education an important strategy for creating awareness of the main values of democratic governance, instilling the spirit of patriotism, loyalty and citizen’s participation in governance.
He said democracy was government by the consent of all and also a system of rights and responsibilities.
According to him, though considered as a universal principle, the concept of democracy differed all over the world due to differences in opportunities and resource endowment.
Self-government
He said civic education in a democracy constituted education in self-government, adding that democratic self-government meant that the citizens were actively involved in their own governance and did not passively acquiesce to the views and demands of others.
He said Ghana needed vibrant civic education to socialise its citizens, hence the call for the support.
A Civic Education Officer of the NCCE, Miss Delight Ama Serwa Akey, called on the students to help bring the Constitution to the door-step of every Ghanaian in a simple language.
Ms Akey said civic education was a shared responsibility which involved mass participation.
She said that could only be achieved if citizens were conscious, conversant and abreast of their rights and civic responsibilities.
The Headmistress of the School, Madam Mawuli Gamor, thanked the management and staff of the Commission for the formation of the club in the school.
Madam Gamor advised the students to learn hard to justify the investment the government and their parents were making in them.
That, she stressed, would pave a brighter future for them when they took up leadership positions.
Background
The 25-member club has Miss Melody Mpumbe as chairman, Miss Eliasu Hawa as secretary, Miss Abigail Akpese as Treasurer, Miss Margaret Atsu as organiser and Madam Evelyn Sedor as patron.
The Ghanaian Times
