STUDENTS MUST HELP SOLVE PROBLEMS ...In theie communities (PAGE 11, MARCH 22, 2010)

THE Eastern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Eric Bortey, has asked students in second cycle institutions to identify problems in their communities and help resolve them.
He said such an initiative would prevent the situation in which people in the communities would have to rely solely on the government to address their problems, including those they could easily handle.
Mr Bortey made the call at the second Eastern Regional Showcase, a four-day civic responsibility programme initiated and funded by the NCCE in Koforidua at the weekend.
The programme, dubbed Project Citizen-Ghana and on the theme, “Consolidating democracy through youth participation,” was attended by students from various senior high schools.
The Aburi Girls Senior High School, which was the first to make a presentation, dwelt on the problems associated with the Aburi-Nsawam highway which had become a death trap.
According to Mr Bortey, the concept of participatory democracy entailed the involvement of every citizen, especially the youth, in decisions and actions that would improve their communities.
Mr Bortey, who condemned the attitude of people relying entirely on the government to solve every issue, called for a change of such attitudes so that minor problems like choked gutters and filthy surroundings would be dealt with by the communities rather than the government.
Rev. Anna Ameyibor, Headmistress of the Wesley International School in Koforidua, who was the guest speaker, appealed to adults particularly at the family level to involve the youth in whatever they do to help mould them as useful future leaders.
She called for the involvement of the youth in government policy making.
Mrs Fanny Kumah, NCCE Director in charge of Literature and Materials, traced Ghana’s political history and said colonisation enslaved the people while the democratic dispensation which started from 1992 had opened a new chapter in which the people had to take active part in governance at all levels.
In a speech read on his behalf, the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Alex Asamoah, expressed regret that bad governance led to political instability in Ghana and expressed the hope that the post-1990 democratic dispensation would help to move the country forward.
Mrs Gloria Aggrey Keelson of the New Juaben Municipal Education Directorate who chaired the function said Ghana had a bright future and expressed the hope that the event would better position the students to serve the country.