TEACHERS AND members of community and civic organisations will meet in Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay between September 27 and October 2 for three workshops geared at helping people learn how to have an effective say in the governance of their country.
The workshops, entitled "Civic Education: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens in a Democratic Society", have been set up as "brainstorming sessions," during which educational, political and non-governmental organisations will work together to come up with concrete ways to introduce civic education to both adults and students across Jamaica.
The island's school teachers and community groups play an essential role in disseminating civic information to students, and scores of teachers from schools from every parish have already registered for the workshops. Invited representatives of various non-governmental organisations and community groups have also signed up for the day-long sessions.
Topics for presentation or discussion include The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens in a Democratic Society and Building Democratic Institutions in Schools. Speakers in Kingston will include Minister of Education and Culture, the Hon. Burchell Whiteman; Chairman of Jamaicans for Justice, Carolyn Gomes; and President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, Anthony Chang. They will be joined by two American experts, Joseph Davis of the American Federation of Teachers, and Kathy Spillman of the Close Up Foundation. The panel of experts who will lead the discussions include General Secretary of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, Lloyd Goodleigh; Past Presidents of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, Byron Farquharson and Nadine Scott, as well as Principal of the Sam Sharpe Teachers' College, Cecile Walden.
The first workshop will be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston on September 27, with the second on September 29 at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville. The island's tourism capital, Montego Bay will host the third on October 2, at the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort.
The workshop series is being organised by the American Embassy's Office of Public Affairs in conjunction with the Ministry of Education.
The Embassy's Counsellor for Public Affairs Michael Korff-Rodrigues noted that "although the United States has been focusing a lot of attention on civic education in recent years, we're still struggling to insure that we 'grab' the attention of the students so they remain committed citizens throughout their lives."
