Last month we organised a stakeholder engagement on civic education with representatives from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), Life Orientation lecturers from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and our team of the Hanns Seidel Foundation’s Civic Academy.
In this event Civics Academy presented Monitoring and Evaluation results on the usage of our Lecturers’ Guide “Facilitating Active Citizenship”, which is being used in Life Skills and Computer Literacy lessons in TVET colleges. Download the guide here.
Since the launch of the Guide in early 2020, in partnership with DHET we have trained more than 400 lecturers on how to use the Guide to facilitate fun and interactive classes, using videos and role plays, to promote active citizenship and voter education amongst their students.
Successful democracies depend on the active participation of informed citizens and a deeper understanding of issues affecting society. One of ‘our’ Life Orientation Champions and education specialist on the panel, Ms Bianca Roberts from Eastcape Midlands TVET college, rounded off the discussion by stating that “Institutions of learning play a crucial role in cultivating the next generation of citizens and it is critical to strengthen the civic education programs within them.”
We are greatful to the Deputy Director General of the Department of Higher Education and Training, Mr Sam Zungu, who expressed great support for this project at the seminar, highlighting the importance of collaboration between government and civil society to strengthen civic education in society.
The following day, additional 70 lecturers from TVET colleges nationwide were trained on how to work with the handbook and videos at Tshwane South TVET college. We will be entering the second phase of our project monitoring in July, when we visit colleges in the different provinces to see how our digital, interactive and youth-oriented material is being received by students.
We are also delighted to announce a new collaboration with the Department of Basic Education which will broadcast our videos on the DBE TV Channel as part of their Freedom Month / Schools Democracy Education Month campaign. Watch this space for more news on this!