Jordan Times
Monday, June 6, 2005
Civic education boosts
public participation, expert says
By Melanie Jacobson
AMMAN — A US expert said here on Sunday civic education boosts public
participation and promotes reform and accountability of government officials.
Director of International Programmes at the US-based Centre for Civic Education
(CCE) Richard Nuccio explained that civic education teaches students the skills
to monitor the government and help them take part in the decision making
process.
“Citizens need a certain skill set to be able to evaluate, analyse and assess
what government officials are doing,” Nuccio told The Jordan Times on the
sidelines of the five-day World Congress on Civic Education, which is to
conclude today.
“Civic education prepares students for an active role in the society. When
citizens become more aware of avenues for participation, the system works much
better and the [government] becomes more accountable.”
He added that the civic education programme in Jordan is “creating a demand for
responsiveness on the part of government.”
The Kingdom was the first Arab country to introduce pilot projects in civic
education, establishing the Jordanian Centre for Civic Education Studies (JCCES),
sparking a movement across the Arab world and leading to the formation of the
Arab Civic Education Network, or Arab Civitas. The JCCES helped implement two
international civic education curricula in primary and secondary schools.
The “Project Citizen” curriculum, which has also been taught at the University
of Jordan, engages students in field activities, through which they learn the
methods and procedures used in the local political process. The second
curriculum, “Foundations of Democracy,” focuses on the concepts of authority,
privacy, responsibility and justice, allowing students to consider the values
underpinning the institutions of government.
Nuccio said Jordan should create channels to enhance a broader political
participation by the public.
As part of Jordan's reform plans, His Majesty King Abdullah formed in February
the Steering Committee for the National Agenda to set guidelines for the
development process over the coming decade. King Abdullah also announced a
decentralisation plan to give active citizens greater opportunities for
involvement in the decision making process by directly electing their municipal
councils.
“Political development should start at the grassroots level, then move up to
decision making centres, and not vice versa,” the King said in an address to the
nation in January.
In his comments to the congress Saturday, Minister of Education and Minister of
Higher Education and Scientific Research Khalid Touqan said civic education “is
just one of many efforts... being exerted to make democracy part of daily life”
in Jordan.
The government was stepping up efforts to engage in a dialogue with the public,
encouraging communication from the grassroots level, Touqan told The Jordan
Times.
Margaret Branson, CCE associate director, agreed with the minister.
“Deliberation, communication and persuasion are the skills needed for effective
participation,” she told the congress, adding that citizens who use those skills
to air their grievances are “more effective than angry protesters.”
An annual function of Civitas International — a network of organisations
committed to fostering civic education worldwide — this year's congress was
hosted by CCE, Arab Civitas and JCCES.