CIVIC EDUCATION: MORE THAN JUST A SUBJECT.

The meaning of civic education remains a mystery to many. Many people believe civic education is just a subject taught in high school as another way of making a good grade. As good as this explanation sounds, it is not sufficient enough to express the importance of this subject area. One of the aims of this blog post is to define civic education and explain the relevance of this subject matter to the national building and the development of a nation, especially, Nigeria.

Civic Education first of all is a form of education. Online Etymology Dictionary expresses that, etymologically, the word "education" is derived from the Latin word ēducātiō, which means “to breed, to bring up, or to nurture, especially as regarding the mind of a person. Education itself is a process of enlightening the mind to ensure the transformation of a person. Education is also an art of teaching or learning relevant knowledge and skills necessary to make one better in an area of life.

It is also necessary to investigate the origin of the word “civic”. Unlikely, “education”, the word, “civic” can be traced to different etymological origins. It is traceable to a Roman word, “civic” which means relating to “city”. Civic also relates to citizen or citizenship. Therefore, civic is a word used to qualify the citizens of a city or country. Thus, civic education simply is defined or explained as “the process of training or teaching citizens on their rights, duties and the political and democratic processes in a country”. Civic education aims at enlightening the people on the power of their involvement in the processes of governance and democracy in the country. Civic education reveals to the people, the power of their rights.

It is essential to note that a country’s democracy and growth thrive on the authority people give to the government through a pact called the social contract. Although the concept of the social contract as explained by the English political scholar, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and French scholar Jack Jacque Rossueu, etc., in the 17th Century, is old, this theory remains relevant to the present age of socio-economic and political landscape. Therefore, the first relevance of civic education as an art, activity or discipline is to create an active citizenry that is aware of the power of their authority and the importance of participating in the decision-making processes of their nation; either through peaceful demonstration, or tax payment or voting.

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In addition, civic education also seeks to ensure accountable and open governance. It is known that most developed countries and best democracies have a civic and active political culture, where the people are not just aware of their rights and roles in governance but also through the instruments of voting, petitioning,
protest, etc., demand that the government account for its decisions, actions and inactions. Although the Democratic Socialist State of Sri Lanka is not a first-world country, the recent happenings of protest in the country is an evidence of the power of an informed citizenry. Therefore, teaching and advocacy for informed and politically educated citizens will eventually make the government accountable and open in its policies and programs because the people will rise on the wing of the knowledge and make demands on the government about its activities.

Furthermore, civic education is also known as citizenship education. As such, it seeks to ensure that, the constitutionally recognized members of a country do not just become aware of their rights and duties alone, but are also trained to imbibe good individual and societal values and attitudes that will make them responsible individuals in society. In achieving citizens are also equipped with relevant skills that will aid them in contributing positively to the development of their society.

To conclude, civic education is more than a subject taught in school. It is an active process of creating a generation of citizens that have the right attitudes to life, and society, and are ready to contribute to national development without prejudice, always making the government accountable through active political participation and participant political culture.