Citizenship Education: A Tool for Effective Citizenship Development

The paper attempts a conceptualization of citizenship education and ways of developing effective citizenship in the society. The end product of citizenship education is effective citizenship. For citizenship education to achieve this objective, an individual has to go through the planned process; either formal or informal education. This is because, for an individual to contribute effectively to the development of the society, certain changes must have taken place in his/her beliefs, behaviour, perception, ideals and above all the way the individual views the society. He/she must have undergone the process of socialization. To evolve a society where unity, tolerance, values of honesty, hard work, self-esteem, fairness, justice, cooperation, equity, respect for humanity and patriotism flourish there is the need to inculcate in the citizens the values and traits of effective citizenship through citizenship education. The central argument of this paper is that the goal of moulding effective citizenship is better achieved with the roles of citizenship education.