THE LINK BETWEEN CIVIC EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

This paper presentation will discuss the assertion that civic education is a prerequisite to national development. So what civic education, development and how is civic education a prerequisite to development? Actually civic education the process of educating the citizens on their rights ,duties, obligations, responsibilities to empower and to motivate them to identify areas of political and governance and participate in order that they can influence political outcomes both at national and grassroots stages. Civic education is the knowledge that relates citizens to their particular country. In the United States, education was seen as the means to safeguard individual rights especially against intrusions of the state. Education was seen as liberal arts. Arts that would liberate them from ignorance and also from the grip of tyrants and enable those liberated to rule themselves if they so wish. Civic education is "instructions that cultivate the habits, skills and virtues necessary for the preservation and flourishing of a given political order". In a lay man's language it is simply a study that deals with the rights, duties of citizens and responsibilities of government. But what is the meaning this famous word known as development.

Development is simply a process of advancing or improving the social, economic and political welfare of citizens. This means that if citizens hold the bull by its horns that is, by taking full control of their public affairs ,it is likely that development will take root because their skills which they will acquire in civic education will help them achieve their aspirations. Society has a common view to say; If a nation has frontiers of knowledge in the fibre of its society then the likelihood that it will speed up its development is high. Education or knowledge is power hence the civic education given to citizens is an According to Aristotle the purpose of political education that is civic is the self development of the citizens.

Good civic education seeks to develop competence in explaining and analyzing issues of the government and its people. If citizens can explain how something should work, for example the American federal system, the legal system of communist china, some regime in north eastern Asia or the system of checks and balances in government they will be more able to detect and help correct malfunctions. Civic education in a democracy should prepare citizens participate in the politics of their country and challenge what seems to be an inequality and injustices within that system. Other scholars like Gutman argue that society has the responsibility for educating all children for citizenship. Hence democratic societies have Citizens who need to be able to analyze such things as the components and consequences of politics. In a self- governing society’s citizens are decision-makers. They need, therefore, to develop and continue to improve their skills of evaluating, taking, and defending positions. These skills are essential if citizens are to assess issues of public agenda, to make judgments about issues and to discuss their assessment with others in public or private By so doing citizens can develop their country and it cannot be wrong to ascertain that civic education is linked to development .If citizens are to influence the course of political life and the public policies adopted, they need to expand their repertoire of participatory skills. Voting certainly is an important means of exerting influence.

Livingston and Thompson (1971:283) argues that "...the other possible means by which the average citizen can influence politics are considered that is, reading and listening to campaign materials , talking politics with friends...". Many institutions help develop citizens' knowledge and skills and shape their civic character and commitments. There's need for education to bring about greater awareness about democratic government systems as well as promotion ,protection of human rights. Family, religious institutions, the media, and community groups exert important influences. Schools, however, bear a special and historic responsibility for the development of civic competency and civic responsibility. Schools fulfil that responsibility through both formal and informal education beginning in the earliest years and continuing through the entire educational process. To substantiate this, Patrick (1974) argues that secondary education is concerned with equipping young people for the kind of society they will encounter. Formal instruction in civics and government should provide a basic and realistic of civic life, politics, and government. It should familiarize students with the constitutions of other states and the understanding of their state in which they live, because these and other core documents are criteria which can be used to judge the means and ends of government.

In countries like France or Germany civic education is perceived as having a central role in the of such in the transmission of such democratic values and principles and hence become an important policy while in Taiwan and Japan civic education focuses on identity, moral behaviour ,personal attributes and international or global perspectives. In the United States of America it is ,political process ,human rights and free market economic. Development of good citizens will enable them to live in peace and harmony with their fellow citizens and this further means children should have morals and be cultured . In this way citizens will be developed fully and that’s why civic education is linked to development. Formal instruction should enable citizens to understand the workings of their own and other political systems, as well as the relationship of the politics and government of their own country to world affairs. Good civic education promotes an understanding of how and why one's own security, quality of life, and economic position is connected to that of neighbouring countries.

In order to create good citizens and it requires a little beyond teaching the basic teaching of mechanics about government. Because of this citizen need to be educated for many activities of different sorts. This is to enhance civic education and not civic indoctrination. These citizens actually need to be educated so that they think critically about democratic institutions because both political knowledge and critical thinking are required if citizens are to participate and share in national issues. Civic education causes citizens to be democratic therefore society has a task of educating all for citizenship. This means to shape the structures of society to engage in conscious social reproduction. Social studies teachers have a responsibility and a duty to focus their classrooms on the teaching of character and civic virtue. They should not be timid or hesitant about working toward these goals. The civic education profession of this nation has vital role to play in keeping this well-spring of civic virtue flowing .Developed nations believe that schools have a civic mission and that education for good citizenship should be the schools' top priority. Unfortunately for long time now in Zambia and the third world in general many people understand civic education as mere civics for youngsters. The concept of civic education is however broader than civics. Civic education relates to human beings and their natural, physical, social and cultural environments. Civic education allows high school learners a chance to explore the obligations and rights outlined in various international instruments and covenants that many countries are signatory just like Zambia is. When these high school learners acquire the above skills and are able to apply the skills appropriately and effectively then that is development. Then it can be said that civic education brings or rather linked to development. The course will give also learners an opportunity to develop their understanding,skills,capacities and values that will mould citizens into socially constructive members of society. It also prepares learners to become concioutised.When this happens learners become active participants in national issues. By being active participants their welfare will be developed hence it can be said that civic education leads to development. Then it can be said that civic education is linked to development. Johari (2011:232) views that, “the most active forms of political participation are formal enrolment in a party, canvassing and speech -writing and speech-making, working in campagns and competing for public and party offices". Effective civic education programs should provide students with many opportunities for the development of desirable traits of public and private character. Learning activities such as the following tend to promote character traits needed to participate effectively for the development of the person and the social environment.

Civility, courage, self-discipline, persistence, concern for the common good, respect for others, and other traits relevant to citizenship can be promoted through cooperative learning activities and in class meetings, student councils, simulated public hearings, mock trials, mock elections, and student courts. Uchendu (1995:48) views that " the educational system of any nation aims at developing individuals to their fullest capacity, so that in turn, they would contribute to the achievement of the ideals of the governments" and further goes on to say that "every government aims at this because every effective democratic form of government depends on a well educated citizenry". This is because when citizens are educated they will be able to run their countries as efficiently as they can to promote and do national development programs. For example the late former president Chiluba was denied a third term . The masses used their civic knowledge to shape the destiny of the country. If there was no single citizen to oppose the third term bid on this land the situation would have been chaotic. There would have been continued embezzlement of tax payer's money as well as continued wastage of government resources at the expense of the poor. Hence the social and economic development would come to stagnation and in turn employment would be a thing for the haves the so -called "big fishes". Fortunately enough the bid did not succeed.

Within the course of 2011 the people of Zambia rejected the constitution for it seemed to favour the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) who then the ruling party.The citizens of this countries used their civic education to stop a biased constitution. Instead the people want to have a people driven constitution which will stand the test of time. After all it is said it is rule of the people by the people for the people and of course that’s democracy. The citizens of Zambia could not wait to have a regime change. Ultimately the party was changed on September 20, 2011 after ruling for twenty years. Then it was booted out. In deciding which party should rule the nation the citizens used their knowledge to see who should be in authority though normally its a very tricky deal whenever it comes to a point of selecting good leaders.

Civic Education has the capacity to produce responsible citizens who will later be aware of bad governance which is the evil in our society. Moreover, the citizens will know to which extent the evil will affect their society at large and as such the citizens will work towards reducing or if possible combating such evils. When the evils are reduced or combated there will be development because living standards will be improved for the benefit of society. Civic education breeds the effective use of resources so that they can replenish themselves Civic Education enables the small scale farmers to make a shift from old methods of farming to new ones such as conservation farming. This will lead to high food production which will further enhance food security in respective communities. At the same time land will be protected against destruction. If the farmers know and use the best farming practices they have acquired from civic education then that’s a crystal clear indicator of development especially in terms of agriculture. In terms of transport the civic education will equip road users to be responsible drivers in that they will reduce accidents by following civic rules. In the same vein citizens in high authority will be able to plan for the construction of good roads as well as avoiding corruption in their dealings. If the nation is able to record low levels of accidents and the passengers are travelling with dignity as compared to a situation where they are loaded like animals then that’s development. It can be rightly be said that civic education can be linked to development or it is linked to development for it improves the living standards of citizens.

With civic education in mind citizens will be able to lobby from the government on behalf the community on many issues. They will able to lobby for women's rights and children's rights. With civic education in minds of citizens they shall be able to discuss issues of democracy, sex education, on rights of individuals, rights of dissent and also the responsibility to inform and to be informed. As though that is not enough ,with civic education citizens acquire the right to participate in the implementation of policies and development programmes. In fact civic education can help citizens develop a critical sense of identity on a lager view, empathy and a positive attitude on diversity.

For democracy to survive and flourish, citizens must possess the skills, assimilate the values and manifest the behaviours that are in accord with democracy. Civic education gives the citizen an opportunity to absorb democratic beliefs and practices over a life time. As they participate in family, neighbourhood life, join local organizations move through the educational system and as they are exposed to free media they develop into better and responsible citizen .Here citizens have the opportunity to absorb the practice of the basic norms of a democratic culture. When this occurs, that is definitely how civic education is linked to development.

In countries where civic education does not exist or less pronounced wholly or partly due to wars or bad regimes, children can or may grow without civic knowledge hence no or little development in terms of civic issues such as human rights, rule of law and so on and so forth. Without civic values such as political tolerance, trust in democratic institutions and respect for the rule of law, how then are the citizens to gain the skills, values and behaviours that are thought to be necessary for a stable democracy which leads to development? The answer is civic education which essentially promotes developmental behaviours among ordinary citizens.

Civic education introduces children to the basic rules and institutional features of good political systems and to provide them with democratic rights. when citizens happen to know their rights they will be able to use their rights to avoid victimization. When human rights abuses and victimization are minimized or stopped it is development. Why? Because the citizens are able to use their education for their benefit and for others. Before the acquisition of civic education skills other citizens would actually take advantage of their power and definitely abuse or victimise the less privileged or the vulnerable in society since power without control is destructive.

Richard (1994) argues that civic education has observable positive effects but mainly on privileged elements in society. Civic education has consistently greater impact on country men and women and has influence on their knowledge, values, and their political behaviour. Therefore means and ways have to be devised to induce citizens to become active voters. When they become active voters and there is no voter apathy meaning that they are able to usher in their leaders with an informed decision. If the ushered in leaders reach the aspirations of the people then that’s development and if the citizens fail to see that as development then it will take long for them to see that as development. Civic education encourages citizens to be responsible, Hahn (1998). Families take a critical role in reinforcing democratic lessons, therefore they should be included in achieving significant and lasting impact on students and this is likely to grow.

Last but not the least, the link between civic education and development will be very obvious if all the necessary education and skills are imparted to the citizens. Beginning from the family through kindergarten, primary, secondary and tertiary education. This should further be extended with seminars, workshops conferences as well as television and radio broadcasting, so that when this civic education is put into practice, results yield then with full confidence it can be said that civic education is linked to development. Therefore civic education is really linked to development.

Check how civic education is linked to development by watching this video.