The indigenisation of Citizenship Education: A Christian ethical perspective

Abstract

The populations of countries that have relatively recently gained their independence from former colonising powers increasingly feel the need to restore and revive their indigenous heritage that had been pushed to the background of their lives during the period of political and cultural domination. There are various ways of effecting this. One of these is to harness the school subject Citizenship Education. Citizenship Education as a school subject has a number of widely accepted basic functions towards the forming of mature future citizens for their own communities, nation-states and wider contexts. The subject could be infused with relevant elements of the indigenous cultures in question, thereby making it more relevant to the learners who are members of previously colonised communities, in the process equipping them to become even better citizens of their nation-states and of the wider world. Doing so is justifiable from a Christian ethical/moral perspective.  

Die bevolkings van lande wat relatief onlangs hulle onafhanklikheid van die voormalige koloniserende magte verkry het toon toenemend ?n behoefte om hulle inheemse erfenis, wat gedurende die tydperk van politieke en koloniale oorheersing na die agtergrond verdring is, te herstel en te laat herleef. Daar is verskeie maniere om dit te bewerkstellig, onder meer om die skoolvak Burgerskapsonderwys daarvoor aan te wend. Hierdie vak het ?n aantal wyd-aanvaarde basiese funksies wat te make het met die vorming van toekomstige volwasse burgers van hulle eie gemeenskappe, nasiestate en in selfs wyer kontekste. Burgerskapsonderwys kan verryk word met die relevante elemente uit die betrokke inheemse kulture ten einde die vak meer betekenisvol te maak vir die lede van sulke gemeenskappe, en om hulle in die proses tot selfs nog beter burgers van hulle nasiestate en die wyer we?reld te vorm. Om dit te doen, is Christelik eties/moreel regverdigbaar.