Bolgatanga, Oct. 24, GNA - The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is focusing on the youth to teach them to develop the culture and skill of civic engagement that would mould them to be good citizens, Mr Larry Bimi, Chairman of NCCE, has said. Mr Bimi said NCCE had adopted the "Project Citizen" as the strategy and vehicle to impart civic education and effective citizenship to the youth.

He said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mrs Fanny Judith Kumah, Director of the project, during the opening of a three-day teacher-training workshop in Bolgatanga for teachers in the Upper East Region.

Mr Bimi said the youth constituted the bulk of the population and must be guided and taught to develop democratic skills and principles such as tolerance and persuasive interaction to consolidate democracy. "Citizenship is not acquired by a game of chance, it is a process that we must strategically and constantly strive for, and it demands commitment. We can therefore not have complete democratic education without citizenship education.''

Mr Bimi said Project Citizen was an interdisciplinary portfolio-based civic education programme that promotes in the youth competence for qualitative and responsible participation at local and national levels.

"It is a strategic programme that helps the youth to acquire knowledge, develop the skills and disposition, monitor and influence public policy." He said it was being introduced in the curriculum of junior and senior high schools after a successful model programme in 20 schools last year.

Mr Isaac Nsoh Amoah, Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, called on parents to give the education of their children a priority, saying; "The proper upbringing of our children which includes the provision of quality education should never be ignored." He said government would continue to pursue far-reaching policies and programmes on education and urged all to effectively use the opportunity in order to improve themselves.

Mr Husheni S. Haruna, Regional Director of NCCE, expressed concern at the rate at which the youth were adopting foreign cultures and discarding Ghanaian cultural values. The workshop would train the teachers drawn from JHS and SHS to implement the Project Citizen.