Bawumia supports call for civic education in schools

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has backed the call for the re-introduction of civic education in the Ghana Education Service (GES) curriculum for schools.

According to him, one of the major ways to deal with the growing rate of indiscipline and help address the falling Ghanaian values is for the educational system to take up the mantle and train the younger generation to respect the country’s values.

“We must take up the challenge and help the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to fulfil its constitutional mandate, particularly in the area of restoring the nation’s values,” Dr Bawumia said at the 2017 National Dialogue in Accra yesterday.

Organised by the NCCE, the event created the platform for the public to dialogue on issues such as lawlessness, corruption, dishonesty, violent crime and other negative tendencies that are slowing down the country’s quest to attain its development goals.

The event was preceded by a panel discussion that brought together renowned scholars to discuss how Ghana could restore its cultural values.

The four panellists—Mr K. B. Asante, Professor Ama Atta Aidoo, Professor Steven Adei and V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe—talked about how institutions could help to restore Ghanaian values.

Some of the key areas they talked about were punctuality and the culture of gift giving. This year’s event was on the theme: “Restoring the Ghanaian Identity: Our values, Our Passion.”

Collective goal

Dr Bawumia said there was the need for Ghanaians to embrace the nation’s values and abhor negative attitudes that affected accelerated national development.

Some of the values he talked about were justice and fairness, pride in national values, communal spirit, respect for national symbols and institutions, honesty and integrity, decency and decorum in language.

Dr Bawumia said it was sad that corruption and greed, in particular, had become a national canker and added that until those negative tendencies were dealt with, it would be difficult for the nation to attain its development goals.

Concerning the government’s support for the NCCE, he said budgetary allocation to the commission had been doubled to enable it to carry out more civic education programmes.

Apart from that, Dr Bawumia said the capital expenditure of the NCCE had been increased to support its work in fulfilling its mandate.

“We believe that discipline in our society and institutions can be enhanced if the NCCE rises up and takes up the challenge,” Dr Bawumia added.

NCCE determined

The Chairperson of the NCCE, Mrs Josephine Nkrumah, said despite efforts made by the institution to help address the falling values in the society, little results had been achieved.

She noted that known Ghanaian values such as respect for the law, honesty and truth exhibited after independence had all reduced.

To address the problem, Mrs Nkrumah said “we must systematically, purposefully and deliberately work to imbibe or reignite these values, particularly in our youth,”

She also stressed the need for the government to equip the NCCE with logistics in all of its 216 district offices to empower them to become more resourceful.