NICE wants civic education in Malawi curricula

NICE Public Trust says there is great need for civic education to be fully incorporated in the Malawi’s education curricula as was the case with a subject called Civics during the pre-democratic era.

Public Relations and Communications Officer at NICE Public Trust, Grace Hara, said this at Chatonda Lodge in Mzuzu on Friday during a signing in ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nyika Media Club (NMC).

The MoU aims at ensuring that the public has access to fair, balanced and verified information ahead of the September 16 Tripartite Elections. The signing of the MoU entails that the two entities will work together in providing civic voter education while ensuring that the public has information from it can make meaningful and informed choices.

“Our mandate is to provide high quality civic education as we contribute to good governance. We therefore believe that working with the media is very important. We reckon that there is a gap in terms of information among Malawians. Many people do not know different roles of duty bearers like the President, Members and Parliament and Ward Councillors. We would want people to differentiate their roles so that they are able to engage the right person for the right information,” said Hara.

Hara then emphasised the need to have civic education in the country’s education curricula so that Malawian citizens can start understanding a variety of issues including good governance from a tender age.

“We believe that if civic education is incorporated in the curricula of the education system from the primary schools, Malawians from a very tender age will be growing up with information on civic education and as such, they will be able to do the right things as citizens,” she said.

Chairperson for Nyika Media Club, Feston Malekezo, told Nyasa Times it was a milestone for journalists in the northern region of Malawi to enter into a working partnership with NICE Public Trust.

Said Malekezo:“We are going towards elections but we are also looking beyond elections. Inside the MoU, we are talking about issues to do with attacks on journalists, for example in their line of duty. NICE Trust will be to help accordingly. We are going to be ambassadors to make sure that misinformation and disinformation does not find space in our work.”

NICE Public Trust is currently engaging the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) to see to it that civic education is fully accommodated in the primary and secondary school education curricula.