SUPPLY CONSTITUTIONS TO SHS STUDENTS (PAGE 13, MAY 21, 2010)

Participants at a forum organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Sunyani West District of the Brong Ahafo Region have suggested that abridged copies of the 1992 Constitution be produced and supplied to senior high school students free of charge.
That, they said, would equip the students to grasp the provisions of the Constitution right from school.
They argued that knowing the Constitution, which is a vital national document, at an early stage in their lives would provide a lot of advantages for the students.
The participants also suggested that the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education add the study of the Constitution to the curricula of schools.
The forum, which was organised as part of activities marking the Constitution Week, was attended by a large number of students, assembly members, teachers, traditional authorities and some heads of departments of the district assembly.
According to the participants, it would be very useful if officials of the NCCE were invited to the meetings of the various parent/teacher associations (PTAs) in the country to explain important national issues to students and teachers alike.
They maintained that the situation where only students who studied government as a subject came to know something about governance was not helpful to the teeming student population, who are considered the future leaders of the country.
The forum also agreed that the government should resource the NCCE very well to enable it to embark on its mandate to educate the public on government policies, programmes and all other governance-related issues across the length and breadth of the country.
It was the view of the participants that the situation where people lost their jobs whenever there was a change of government was a disincentive to prospective employees who would have been trained at a huge cost.
The Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr Michael Amponsah, stressed the importance of the people to participate fully in all local level decision-making processes at all times and not wait until there were elections before they showed their enthusiasm and zeal, only to recoil after the exercise was over.