Civic education club inaugurated at Kofiase Adventist SHTS

A civic education club has been inaugurated at the Kofiase Adventist Senior High Technical School (SHTS) to promote citizens’ active involvement in decision making.

This is part of activities by the school to collaborate with the Mampong Municipal Assembly of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to educate citizens, including students, on their rights, duties and responsibilities.

Inauguration

Inaugurating the club, the Programmes Officer of the Mampong Office of the NCCE, Godwin Opoku Yeboah, who represented the Mampong Municipal Director of the NCCE, Mr De-Graft Kpobi, said the existence of the club was a manifestation of the mandate of the NCCE (as enshrined in Article 231 of the 1992 Constitution) to carry out civic education in the country.

He said the club would educate the citizens on all areas, including politics and governance. 

Mr Yeboah said the formation of the club was one of the NCCE’s methodologies to reach out to the youth with civic education activities.

“We established the club in the school in order to inculcate the democratic and constitutional culture in students and teachers to keep civic education activities alive in their schools,” he stressed.

Club’s mandate

He charged the club to study, analyse the content of the 1992 Constitution and develop a practical commitment to social justice, democracy and equality.

He also advised the leaders of the club to nurture a culture of democratic citizenship among the schoolchildren “in order to enhance the capacity of students on civic awareness, democracy and human rights as per the 1992 Constitution and increase participation in the governance process of the country.”

Mr Yeboah also asked the club to instil a high sense of discipline among members in the run-up to the December general election.

Citizens’ participation

The Headmistress of the school, Ms Martha Owusua Antwi, said democracy meant that citizens were actively involved in their own governance.

She said since the 2016 election is close, there is the need for parties to abide by the rules and regulations guiding the election.

The Chief Patron of the club, Mr Daniel Adusei Konadu, noted that civic education was also intended to make all citizens or at least prospective leaders effective as citizens or reduce disparities in political power.

He expressed the hope that the 36-member club would continue to grow from strength to strength and live up to its purpose.

The President of the club, Ms Gifty Okyere, expressed gratitude to both the NCCE and authorities of the school for collaborating to establish the club and gave an assurance that members would live up to expectation.