The Ministry of Education is considering introducing civic education as a core subject in the school curriculum.

Alex Tetteh-Enyo, the sector Minister, who said this on Friday, explained that there was the need to ensure that the introduction of the subject did not overload the school time table.

“We are looking for the opportunity; be it tomorrow or the near future. We will reconsider to make it a core subject,” he said in response to a concern raised by the chairman of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Larry Bimi, on the absence of civic education in school to inculcate civic responsibility in students and pupils.

He was speaking at a Project Citizen Ghana National Showcase held in Accra on the theme: “Consolidating democracy through participation”.

Project Citizen Ghana, a brainchild of the NCCE, is a programme aimed at helping the youth to learn how to monitor and influence public policy and develop democratic values and principles.

Mr. Tetteh-Enyo said the ministry would continue to support the project because of its potential of perpetuating the culture of participatory approach to decision making and tolerance to divergent views which were key ingredients in consolidating democracy.

He said the seeming future of most Africa countries, particularly sub-Sahara Africa, was due largely to policy decisions.

Mr. Tettey-Enyo was optimistic that beneficiaries of the project would be equipped well enough to serve their respective communities to accurately diagnose and propose solution to the problems confronting them.
He said the government was committed to encouraging science education as a cornerstone to development by offering scholarships and bursaries as well as building new science laboratories and rehabilitating existing ones.

He said the government would ensure that education delivery was not toyed with to the detriment of the child stressing that the government was committed to improve conditions of service for teachers particularly those who accepted postings to deprived rural areas.

Mr. Larry Bimi said that there was the need for what he described as ‘socio cultural revolution’ to beef up the democratic gains.

“We can only do this by a systematic and strategic teaching of children to acquire civic responsibility values as they are growing.”

He said civic education should be part of the growth of citizens, especially those in school.

As part of the programme, the NCCE and Hanns Seidd Foundation, a German non-governmental organisation, have signed a three year agreement under which the latter would support the Commission with funding for its activities.

Source: Ghanaian Times