The Impact of Civic Education on Political Participation in the Sissala East District of the Upper West Region of Ghana

Abstract

A country’s democracy isentrenched when its citizenry participate actively in itsdemocratic processes. This realisation has been the driving force for democratic nations, including Ghana, to implement civic education programmes to enlighten the citizenry on civic issuesin order to enhance their democratic participation. This study explored the impact of civic education by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) on political participation in the Sissala East District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The study, which is an Mphil thesis,benefitted from both secondary and primary data, as well as the quantitative and qualitative research strategies for data collection and analysis.The study suggests that beneficiaries of civic education in the study area had high level of political participation, including the readiness to vote, join political party, contest elections, participate in community service and demanding accountability from duty bearers. This confirms the Civic Voluntarism Model’s (CVM) thesis that civic education enhances political consciousness and activism. The study also suggests that the NCCE, which is constitutionally mandated to educate the citizenry on their civic rights and responsibilities in Ghana,encountered a series of challenges in the execution of its mandate. To ensure increased political consciousness and activism in the study area and elsewhere in the country, the study recommends that civic education needs to be stepped up in the country. To ensure this, the fundingneeds of the Commission needsto be scaled up.

Key Words: Civic Education, Political Participation, NCCE,Sissala East District