Education Minister Dr. Ansu Sonii has reemphasized the need for civics to be taught in all schools in Liberia, and supports the Governance Commission’s development of a National Curriculum on Citizenship Education.
The Commission in July 2014, published 10,000 copies of the National Curriculum on Citizenship Education with the hope that this will trigger the publication of books on Liberian civics to be taught in elementary, Junior and Senior high schools throughout the country.
The Curriculum was first presented to the Education Ministry in May 2015 but not much has been done by the Ministry since then to ensure the teaching of civics in schools in Liberia, according to a GC press release.
Professor Sonii maintained that the reintroduction of civics being taught in Liberian schools will go a long way in helping to change attitudes of students and youth making them to be true patriots.
The Education Minister was speaking earlier this week when he received the final batch of 4,400 of the original 10,000 copies of the national curriculum donated to the Education Ministry by the Governance Commission.
Minister Sonii expressed hope that each Liberian student can obtain a copy of the Citizenship curriculum but regretted the limited copies available to make this dream a reality. He however wants civic education to be reintroduced in schools by next semester.
Liberia is said to have a total of nearly 5,500 public and private schools with millions of students currently enrolled. Minister Sonii is hoping that government and partners would aid the Ministry to print more copies of the Curriculum and Civics books so that every student can have both copies.
The civics book is expected to also educate Liberians on the rights, responsibilities and obligations to country. Critics believe that the years of civil uprising in Liberia have undermined citizens’ responsibilities and obligations to country, leaving Liberians to be more concern about “their rights”.
Critics also believe that the incidents of rampant corruption as reported in Liberia can be linked to the lack of civic education, according to the Governance Commission’s statement.