‘Civic Education’ to be introduced as a compulsory subject in schools – VP

Civic education, a subject aimed at preparing students to be informed and engaged in democratic processes, will be introduced as a compulsory subject in schools.

This is according to Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo who on Thursday said there is a need to steer “misguided” citizens in the right direction to contribute to their communities and society.

“In the next government, we have to go back, the compulsory subject in school must be ‘civics’ or ‘citizen education’,” he said.

The Vice President explained that the subject will include various topics such as rights and responsibilities of a citizen, the Constitution of Guyana and citizens’ rights, the value of democracy, the need to preserve freedom, patriotism, the integrity of the country’s borders, and religious education.

Relating to religious education, he noted that the three major religions in Guyana will be asked to agree on the common aspects of their beliefs which can form a part of the syllabus.

“I am prepared that if the three groups come together and come up with things we can teach and we call it Moral Education or something then we’re prepared to put that in the school system. But I think if we can go back to that and get the three religion to come up with the common things in the three major faith in Guyana which is basically, when you look at it, they all want the same thing, and combine that with citizens education,” he explained during his weekly press conference.

It is the hope of the Vice President that such a subject will help to “incubate better citizens”.

The comments come in light of recent protests which escalated into looting, burning, attacks on innocent people, and clashes with police following the death of 11-year-old Adriana Younge. Dozens of persons have since been charged with terrorism in connection with the April 28 incident.