Project Citizens Ghana is a huge success

Accra, Nov. 18, GNA 96 Mrs. Fanny Judith Kumah, a Director of the National Commission on Civic Education, has described the pilot phase of the 91Project Citizens Ghana' launched early this year as a huge success, saying it would help deepen the democratic governance in the country.

The Project, an initiative of the National Commission on Civic Education and supported by the Centre for Education of the United States of America (CIVITAS) aimed at promoting and championing civic education studies to help the youth to understand the fundamental values and principles of constitutional democracy.

It is also to encourage the youth to move away from the use of radical means of effecting change in their societies by adopting and using deliberative methods to hold their leaders accountable.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at an evaluation workshop of the project in Accra, Mrs Kumah, who is also a coordinator of the project, said students from beneficiary schools had demonstrated through the presentations of their various portfolios that they could become agents of development and good governance by helping solve the challenges facing their various communities.

The evaluation meeting was to allow the teachers, students and other stakeholders who participated in the pilot to discuss problems they faced in implementing the project.

It was also to review and elaborate the teachers and students guidelines to enhance better teaching and learning and improve on future programmes. Mrs Kumah said, while there were plans to extend the project to other schools across the country, the Commission would hasten slowly in doing so to ensure that the focus of the project was not destroyed. She said participatory democracy would be meaningful only if the people, especially students were equipped to engage in cooperative learning, create their own understanding, encourage critically thinking through problems and offering solutions and exposed to responsible citizenship.

She said the project would help individuals to develop inquiring minds, ability to innovate and adapt and the capacity to apply knowledge and skills acquired to solve problems.

Through the project students learn how to express their ideas, decide, which level of government, district or national and agency is most appropriate for dealing with problems they identify and how to monitor and influence public policy decisions.

The students work cooperatively with each other and with teachers and adult volunteers to identify a problem to study, gather information, examine information, examine solutions, develop public policy positions and create action plans.

The results are presented in the form of a portfolio to other classes or community for assessment.

Mrs Kumah said the concept would be introduced into the social studies curriculum to make students more informed about their civic responsibilities and the need to participate in local and national governance since the country's democratic development and growth depended on effective participation by all citizens. Twenty schools drawn equally from the Northern and Greater Accra Regions participated in the pilot phase of the project, which saw the portfolio on Child Labour presented by students of Accra High School emerging winner at the national competition. Accra High School also won laurels at the Regional Fair held in Dakar, Senegal. 18 NOV. 06