|
 Participation
is key to the success of democracy and it is important for
Pakistan’s
future, said Ray Kyles, Deputy High Commissioner of
United Kingdom.
Addressing as chief guest at the Showcase ceremony of Project
Citizen Pakistan, arranged by Centre for Civic Education
Pakistan (CCE), he said democracy will only get stronger in
Pakistan if the individual stands up to be counted. “We are
ready to help you build the democracy you want and deserve, but
it is up to the people to make it a success,” he said and
appreciated the public policy positions taken by middle grade
school students.
Earlier students of seven selected public and private schools
exhibited amazing policy formulation skills for solution of
problems of clean drinking water, garbage disposal, pollution
and begging in their communities.
During the presentations it was
seen that the youth learnt many important lessons during their
participation in Project Citizen Pakistan. Most importantly, the
students recognized the need for themselves and the citizens to
work together with the government to solve problems that afflict
them and larger society. Most of the groups correctly recognized
the cause of the persistence of most issues was not the lack of
appropriate policies but policy non implementation.
Dr.
Bernadette Dean, head of Institute for Educational Development,
Agha Khan University Karachi said all the participants did an
excellent job and that the judges were proud of the work. She
hailed the confident participation of all the students. She
hoped that all the students wouldn’t forget their experience of
being an active citizen and would continue looking for solutions
to problems and informing policy makers of their
responsibilities because the citizens were the government and
the elected officials were representatives and had to do what
the citizens wanted. The talent and level of awareness of the school kids show that our
children are second to none in the world, said film maker, Samar
Minallah and writer Irfan Ahmad Urfi who were judges at the
showcase hearing. Speakers said programs like Project Citizen
Pakistan should be made part of regular curriculum. Project
Citizen Pakistan, a civic education program to promote
knowledge, skills and habits of heart for active citizenship
along with learning to monitor and influence public policy, has
touched lives and imaginations of 1100 students and 33 teachers
of 11 public and private schools in Rawalpindi during the last
four months. Executive director, CCE-Pakistan Zafarullah Khan
said young students have exhibited amazing civic skills and
knowledge to bring hope to their communities.
In Showcase hearing the panel of
judges awarded “Outstanding School” prize to the students of
Government Comprehensive Girls High School, Dhoke Kashmirian,
Rawalpindi. The students of Fauji Foundation Model School,
Rawalpindi earned the title of “Excellent School” and the
Divisional Public School was declared “the Best School.” Special
souvinors were distributed among principals and teachers who
served as civic educators at their schools. Famous TV anchor
Adeel Anwar conducted the ceremony. |
