Considering Ethics and Civics in Our Curriculum.

The society in Ghana in all honesty has become deficient in certain areas, especially ethics and civic duty. When people steal they think they got over and see it as nothing to be ashamed of. Youth spend their leisure time at drinking spots and students see rioting as a standard means of resolving issues. Values have eroded and this has contributed to the demise of what once seemed to be quite a peaceful place with halfway decent people.

Some may say poverty is at the heart of this problem. I do not know this based on any scientific research. However, I know that the continued lack of ethics will find its way in more sectors in the economy for a long time if the youth and those future leaders to be are not deliberately taught these values that we have taken for granted. The church does not teach ethics and morality, it teaches religion, which may have elements of ethics. As such the call on churches, by government in this regard is helpful but does not relegate government of its duties to protect the land and its citizens. There must be some direct engagement by the government.

As such, I ask that as the education ministry tries to formulate a new direction for our education system, let us take into account our specific needs as a society and incorporate the teaching of ethics and civic duty. Introducing these two subjects at the JSS or secondary school level and continued into our tertiary system may help us reverse some of what I predict will spell disaster for the Ghanaian society in the future. There is a level of ignorance which is high and it is for the government reduce this incidence of corruption in a more comprehensive way.

This means shaping the values of society and actually playing a direct role in developing model citizens of our society. Today as a result of the HIV menace, we have decided to react instead of being proactive way back, with sex education in our schools. We do not need to wait to be devastated by poor behavior and corruption to decide to address why we are morally bankrupt. There is enough evidence that this is a problem. Let us take care of it in a more systematic and holistic way rather than resort to band-aid policies in the future. It is important for government to understand that the institutionalizing of any policy and its full effects has a gap phase where nothing is realized. We know that this is what makes it easy for politicians to run away from problems because they must calculate the political benefit of actions. However, there are some issues, which must be tackled whether the results show up now or later.