Relevance Of Inculcating Environmental Education in Children

THE RELEVANCE OF INCULCATING ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN CHILDREN AS ADVOCATED BY THE NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR CIVIC EDUCATION

Catch them young is the best catch phrase for the Annual Citizenship Week Celebration spearheaded by the National Commission for Civic Education, NCCE. With a mandate to educate citizens on their Civic rights and responsibilities, the NCCE Instituted the Annual Citizenship Week Celebration in 2012 to engage young Ghanaians on critical national issues that will engender civic consciousness among the citizens.  The Annual Citizenship Week targets pupils at the basic level. The NCCE believes when young Ghanaians are educated on civics and Ghanaians values, it goes a long way to impact on their love for country and upholding patriotic values. The Annual Citizenship Week also provides a platform for Senior Citizens, influential Ghanaians, role models, celebrities, people of integrity and members of the general public to spend an hour or more of their time as civic educators on civic values and responsibilities to engage the young ones.  The rational of the Annual Citizenship Week is for these distinguished role models to mentor young citizens to become responsible adults.

Since 2012, the NCCE has been rolling out the Citizenship Week and this has hugely impacted on many young people who have benefited from the initiative. “A clean Ghana, Our Responsibility”, is the focus of this year’s Citizenship Week” which started on Monday 27th of this month. The NCCE chose Sanitation as this year’s week celebration because of the adverse effects of plastic waste and filth in our environment. Admittedly, sanitation remains a challenge and a danger to the country`s environment and prioritising it in this year`s citizenship week is in the right direction.  Article 41 (g) and (k) of the 1992 fourth Republican constitution entreats Ghanaians to contribute to the well-being of the community in which they live and to protect and safeguard the environment. Sadly, most people these days care less about the environment. Sometimes as individuals, we forget that our actions and inactions affect the environment and we tend to blame government and state actors when disasters strike. Plastics have taken over almost everywhere including our drainage, gutters, beaches, markets, and lorry parks.  Probably, the time has come for all of us to make a conscious effort to limit the use of plastics and rather choose biodegradable. The NCCE has a herculean task to sensitise the public on limiting the use of plastics and reaching out to school pupils is a great start but that doesn’t mean the adult population are excluded from the education.

Ghana must learn from Rwanda which has been a reference country for many, when it comes to cleanliness. But we must not forget that Rwanda did not just wake up one day, to become one of the neatest countries in Africa. Rwanda is said to have consciously embarked on a conscientization programme on attitudinal change and mindset on issues of sanitation. Ghana can make same strides if a change in mindset campaign embarked on   by the NCCE is continued in schools and in homes. Last year, the Commission and its Citizenship Week volunteers went to the length and breadth of the country and visited about eight thousand and eighty-two schools. This year the Commission is targeting ten thousand schools and it is the hope of all that it becomes a changing moment for the children regarding. Ghanaians must throw their weight behind the NCCE`s public education strategies. The Annual Citizenship Week by the NCCE though welcoming will not make much of a difference if we fail to speak out against bad environmental practices.

BY: SAMED ABDULIA – A JOURNALIST.