Educator extraodinaire Professor Errol Miller, in his publication ‘Education Reform in Independent Jamaica’, classified periods of educational reform in Jamaica into three eras: the colonial rule era, the populist government era, and the structural adjustment era.

Our education system in the colonial rule era was essentially private, mostly benefiting those from high places with ‘high’ colour and was also based on British curricula.

Following this period from 1953 to the late 1970s, the populist period can be marked by an opening up of the education system to all and a makeover of the curricula to bear content that reflected national and regional culture, civics, and values, thereby fostering nationalism, nation-building, equality, and the establishment of a democracy.

Civics education was a key aspect of our education system and can be attributed to the strong agenda for social change experienced throughout this era. At a time when Jamaica was gearing up for self-government and Independence, civic education was of utmost importance in our curricula to ensure that we could produce great leaders and defenders of our newly independent society as well as define for ourselves our identity. In previous years, civics was covered in all-age schools’ grades seven through nine and in high schools’ first form. However, as the years went by we somehow fooled ourselves into thinking that this aspect of education has no value as it became less and less important in schools until we completely dropped it from our schools’ curriculum with no apparent thought to how this would affect us in the long term.

For the younger populous, who may truly not even know, in a nutshell, civics learning entails the study of the structure, role, and importance of government and its branches, the rights and responsibilities of a citizen toward his or her neighbours and the country at large as well as democracy and the socio-political institution as a whole. The subject should aim to teach individuals the responsibilities of leaders and followers alike and the role they play in the larger society and should inculcate an ability to objectively analyse and criticise government activities.

Such a subject is vital to achieving a democracy that is truly run by the people for the people as it awakens a sense of political responsibility in its pupils. Gone are the days when young people understood that they did not need to be elected or appointed officials to be a part of the political process and that political participation came in many forms outside of voting.

Democracy relies on our ability as a people to keep each other accountable, both leaders and followers alike, and civics was the subject that taught us the different avenues through which this can be done. Our lessons carried themes of national pride, peaceful living, tolerance, and cooperation within our communities. We understood better then the sentiment of “out of many, one people” as we were taught to embrace the diversity in our culture and ethnic make-up and to find oneness in that. And, perhaps, most importantly, we were exposed to the political ills and weaknesses in the country and understood that we had an important responsibility to play our role in remedying them, starting within our communities.

Today the absence of civics education in schools is drastically affecting levels of civic engagement, which is the heart of a democracy, and without it we cannot correctly call ourselves one. But this engagement is only encouraged through national pride and a shared goal among our citizens to improve our nation. We have robbed the younger generation of the avenue through which they were to gain these core values and our increasingly low voter turnout, which has declined from 72.88 per cent in the 1962 General Election to an alarming 37.85 per cent in the most recent election, is evidence of this.

Surely there are more factors that come into play as far as the voter turnout is concerned, but we cannot deny that this is one such.

The effects of the absence of civics learning can also be seen in the depleting presence of active community groups, citizens associations, and community youth groups. Selfishness and personal insularity have become the values of the day. National pride is dwindling and people are feeling less and less obligated to playing a part in the growth of this nation.

The point still stands here, then, that the benefit of civics education goes beyond that which it served immediately post-Independence and is still valuable to us today. I echo the proposal of senior fellow and director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution Rebecca Winthrop that civics education should be implemented in schools as an essential 21st-century skill – soft and hard skills and habits which are important for the success of our youth in today’s advanced and globalised world. There has been a worldwide movement to reform education systems to reflect these skills.

As globalisation accelerates and becomes the norm with the progression of the 21st century, it is important that as a nation we can keep intact our identity, lest we risk a re-colonisation of our minds, media, and society – although one could argue that this is already taking place. If we aren’t taught who we are then how must we stand a chance against the powers that be who want to bend us to their will? The answer is we won’t and we will continue to sell out to he, she, and the old lady.

​Therefore, if the preservation of this country’s democracy and identity means anything to us, we must, by all means, reintroduce civics as a stand-alone subject in our high schools. Further, we must also work to create mandatory programmes which will allow for the hands-on use of civic knowledge and give our children the opportunity to exercise some of the values and skills learnt in the classroom.

We need a curriculum that is not only rich in facts and theories but also one that instils respect for political talk, freedom of speech, and tolerance of opposing viewpoints. The curriculum must also inspire our students to be self-assured volunteers, active members of the community, and future voters, so that before God and all mankind, Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship, and prosperity, and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race.