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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Jul 2006 : 22:09:07
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You are very right gambiabev. Education is most essential in any democratic society. During my elementary through high school education in the Gambia, no one ever taught me my civic rights and the role citizens have in government. Thanks to a political party called PDOIS (Peoples' Democratic Organination for Independence and Socialism)which, is still in existence. This political party made it a point of duty to educate the public first before engaging them in politics and National development. After two decades their fruits are begining to ripe and those are the generation we are witnessing to see question their leadership.
The fact is that the former and present government purposely keeps the public ignorant so they can exploit as much as possible. Education means enlightenment, which means citizen awareness and exercise of citizen rights. Information blackout is the weapon that the government uses to continue to dominate the people.
Until the education system represents the interest of future generations, the people will continue to be brainwashed. The fight is about free education and access to information. Once that war is won, political indoctrination will be a thing of the past. The fight continues.
Peace |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 07:15:10
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quote:
Originally posted by gambiabev
In the uk Tony Blair has introduced citizenship into the curriculum. People thought it was funny, but I think it is very serious. Pupils need educating about the importance of voting and democratic process.
If citizenship was in the curriculum in Gambia perhaps people would feel more empowered. Also perhaps they wouldnt sell their voting rights so cheaply.
Thats right Bev. We used to do Civics education as a subject in our curricula. |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 12:16:02
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| Citizenship is indispensible in the curricula of a modern democratic nation, and I would also add basic law education. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 13:10:12
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| There is a move in uk to include basic financial education too eg so people understand compound interest and so on. 'Life skills' education is an important thing. Thats why I am in favour of pupils still learning practical skills, such as cooking and sewing aswell as academic subjects. |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 14:46:25
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quote:
Originally posted by serenata
Citizenship is indispensible in the curricula of a modern democratic nation, and I would also add basic law education.
The Civics we were taught was al about the citizenship, politics and civic rights, the law and the constitution. |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 18:17:54
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| So Gambia was ahead of several European countries. Chapeau! |
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 18:30:52
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i read today that the british government is going to maintain a register of the smartest kids in the UK to make sure their talents exploited.
lucky some
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 18:52:24
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Yes it is because at secondary school they tend to plateau and not maintain their advantage. They want to keep them moving forwards. Education in Uk today seems to be all about testing and 'adding value'. 
It is good in one way to give extra attention to bright children, because they have special needs at the top end of the spectrum. But imagine the pressure to continuously be improving. Some children burn out before they ever get to work! Also IF every child is treated as an individual then they are ALL special and worthy of attention. |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2006 : 19:02:55
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| Bravo, gambiabev! |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 10:12:57
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quote:
Originally posted by serenata
So Gambia was ahead of several European countries. Chapeau!
Not at all only quite a few were taught that mainly under a private school. That subject was not very popular and eliminated in the curricula ages ago under Jawara's regime. |
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kassma
334 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 18:39:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Jede
Gambiabev, why people don't take their right to vote is a complex issue and differs from country to country and situation to situation.
Here in Belgium is voting an obligation. If you don't vote you (can) get a penalty. I think this a good system. You don't have to register before (so manipulation is excluded) and every social class of the population has his voice in the policy of the government (from local to federal)
In most democratic countries (???) of the world voting is not obligatory.
People can chose not to vote because they are convinced elections are not fair anyway. There vote will not change the result. This is, as you know quiet well, the case in a lot of fake-democratic countries . However as you probably remember the saga by the first election of Bush in the US  , polling is even there a problem. And the most incredible fact is that the US try to play voting-expert all over the world. 
Another reason why people don't feel the need to vote is (mainly here in europe) the fact that most of the political parties tend to search for the midfield. Socialists are not really socialists anymore (your own prime minister is a good example for that) and liberals are not pure liberals anymore. The people don't see hardly any difference anymore between the different political parties and what they stand for in their programmes. Therefor they don't feel the need to vote as they are convinced that the policy after the elections will not change anyway.
As an outstander to the Gambian situation I find it very difficult to see what the different parties stand for. The only common thing the opposition parties have is to vote Jammeh away. .... But you have seen what happened with their coalition NADD.
i like that!!! cause really, you can't complain if you're not voting. but Jede, how does the belgium system work in detail, how do they know if someone doesn't vote? what about noncitizens, i'm very curious |
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 20:10:41
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I think children who are bright are often neglected my daughters were often asked to assist less abled children when they'd finished there work off in secondary. My son is now part of the gifted and talented program and benefits immensely from the extra curricular activities provided for him. The label gifted and talented is a clumbsy one because every human being on the planet is gifted and talented in their own way. I think it's essential that too much pressure is not put on children to be on top all the time. I have adopted a more laid back approach which seems to have work with my daughters achieving their A levels. Children who learn differently also be gifted and talented as my younger son in the latter caterogy in the education context and it's important too that they aren't overlooked. In other words an education system which always each individual child to reach it's full potential is what most people would like to see.
Peace
Sister Omega |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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Jack
Belgium
384 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 20:57:13
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Kassma,
Well the Belgian system is quite simple. Everyone is registered by birth (and of coarse everyone who passes away is registered to). So the Belgium government knows exactly how many people had to vote at a certain day (voting age is 18).
Moreover everyone is registerd at the place where he or she lives. So every council, village knows exactly how many people are living there (with some exceptions for illegal people, those who don't register after they had moved to another place, ...). Some weeks before the voting day everyone gets his voting card send by the post(its a card with your identification and the polling station where do you have to vote). At the day of voting you have to bring this voting card and your ID and you can vote. The bureau has a list of all the possible voters at that polling station and they register you before you bring out your vote. At the end of the day the number of voting biljets are counted and the number of people who didn't come to vote (some refuse, some are on holiday abroad, some are sick... and so on). The days after voting the courts check those lists and the reasons why somebody didn't come to vote. In some cases those who don't have a legal excuse get a penalty. For a city like Oostende (68.000 inhabitants) there are aproximately 50 polling stations. They all open and close at the same time. (usualy I am a chairman of a polling station or a counting bureau because they often take people who are used to administrative work)
I don't know exactly what you mean by non citizens.
Everyone has to vote in the polling station at his council or village where he lives usually. (Belgium is not that big, so you can easily go home for that day). If you mean foreigners. Well that changed 3 years ago. European citizen can vote for local governments (citycouncils and provinces) but not for the national government. Other foreigners are not allowed to vote, unless of coarse if they are naturalised and have got the Belgium nationality.
Some history :
In 1921 the general simple right to vote was introduced. Before that you have a system of plural voting (the richer you were, the more votes you could buy.. )but only for men. The general simple voting right for every citizen (then age 21) came just after the second world war in 1948. Since then man and women have to vote and they all have just 1 vote. Since then the system hardly changed. The voting age became 18 and recently as I mentioned above european foreigners are allowed to vote since a couple of years.
ci jamaa.
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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2006 : 20:59:53
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maybe the belgian system is good and works i dont know. but i wouldnt like to be forced to vote by any nation.
to be part of the political process should not be compulsory just like joining the army. freedom of choice and expression should not be forced on anyone.
what if you dont like any of the parties? what if you're out of the country? what about foreign people in belgium/immigrants? if there is no registration can anyone then stand even a foreigner? i guess there are provisions for these questions. |
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