NCCE, Ghana media urged to do consistent civic education
The Director of Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy, Professor Henrietta Mensah-Bonsu has urged the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the media to undertake consistent civic education.
Prof Mensah-Bonsu gave the advice when she delivered a paper entitled: “Language that denigrates, language that threatens and the challenge of nation building,” at a media encounter organised by NCCE.
She said both the NCCE and the media must not wait until elections are due before they reach out to the public; adding that as a young State civic education is critical to Ghana’s nation-building efforts and all who could help must do so.
“Such mass education would certainly have to address the use of unsavoury language in public discourse, and the threats that it poses to our well-being.
“However, these days, media space is very expensive and so expecting the NCCE to have enough resources to undertake the needed public education on the scale dictated by our circumstances, is to fail to appreciate the reality of our public purse,” she noted.
Prof Mensah-Bonsu said, however, if every media house would give a little space or airtime every week as part of their corporate social responsibility, to NCCE to undertake public education on a specified topic, the impact of the work of the Commission would be more visible.
“We must watch our language and mind how we give offence; we cannot build our nation by causing disaffection in some, and marginalising others.
“Our diversity need not translate into disunity, and can be a source of strength if we focus on the things that unite us, and work on the things that divide us,” she stated.
The Director said Ghanaians must continue to speak the same language of national unity and national integration if the nation’s building agenda is to remain on course.
Prof Mensah-Bonsu said nation-building requires time, patience, money and unity of purpose because it is an on-going concern.
“Like the tapestry of our national cloth, Kente, we can achieve great beauty if all the strands are united in a common pattern.”
She said Ghanaians could make the progress they desire, only if they join forces to create synergies that would advance the interests of the country.
Source: GNA