Character and citizen education

What is character education?

Education itself is a very vast term, but it has different forms and types. Character education is also among those. As its name shows, character education is all about character building, moral development of a child and teaching them some basic ethics and rules. Character building of a child is done through character education. Although it is one of the basic objectives of education, character education wholly works on it.

Character education of the child plays a vital role in building the personality of a child that will stick them for their whole life. Because the things a child learns in the early days have a lifelong impact. For instance, if a child is taught how to greet someone while meeting, they will learn it, slowly make it a habit, and in the end, it will become part of their life, and they will greet everyone they meet unintentionally as that manner is part of their personality.

What is citizen education?

In the past, the education students had at home and school was a combination of all in one, but in modern times and modern education, there are so many new directions that are discovered and made part of learning. For instance, there is physical education, academic education, character education similarly citizen education.

Citizen education makes people aware and understands the challenges of living in a democratic society and how to face these challenges. To make society a peaceful and organised place where everyone respects each other and knows how to cooperate and live with other people around them, it is very important to have citizen education. Citizen education for sure help people in becoming good citizen who follows all the rules and life without harming society.

Relationship between character and citizen education?

Citizen and character education has a very strong relationship keeping in mind the birth of character and citizen education that is also known as CCE, came forward in the times of modern education. Character and citizen education have become a part of the curriculum in different institutions, and there are separate departments for character and citizen education. Citizen and character education has gained attention in the 21^st century.

The main objective of citizen and character education is the personal development of a person and to make people responsible and accountable for themselves, society, family and people around them. It helps students understand themselves and society. What is their role, and how they can play their roles effectively? Below, we will discuss the benefits of character and citizen education and how many dimensions it help students.

Self-awareness:

Character and citizen education help in the self-management and self-awareness of the students. Students learn about several skills that help in improving their personality. They learn that their well-being could play an effective role in their lives personally, professionally, and socially. Man is a social animal. Everyone is dependent on another person to survive in this world. We all are human beings. When students understand themselves, they automatically learn to some extent about other people.

Secondly, through self-management that students learn during CCE, they came to know the tricks and ways they can spend a balanced life where they can manage friends, family and personal space smoothly.

Moral responsibilities:

Another benefit of citizen and character education (CCE) is that students learn about their moral responsibility. Self-accountability is one of the vital principles that students learn through CCE. Although when there is no surveillance or security guard or camera, it is the moral responsibility of a person to follow the rules. This is what character and citizen education teach students. When everyone in society takes their moral responsibility and fulfils their duties with dignity, society becomes a place where every person can live peacefully.

For instance,  we can understand through this example that it is the moral responsibility of every student to do their homework on their own but what if they ask their friend to “please do my online exam.” By doing this, they will never learn anything. Similarly, if people will not pay off their moral and social responsibilities, they will never learn to live in a society.

Learn positivity:

There is so much negativity in society already, and people usually contribute to increasing negativity instead of positivity. So keeping in front the requirement of the 21^st century, CCE aims to teach people passivity. Through this education, students learn how they can positively handle the matters of life and maintain their relationships with the family, society and most importantly, with themselves. A person who remains positive and optimistic in every situation could conquer the world. Positivity is also very important for the mental health of a person.

Contribute to the betterment of society:

People make society. Society is the place where everyone lives. So obviously, it is the responsibility of the people living in the society to work for the betterment of society. Through citizen education and character-building, students of CCE learn how they can contribute to the betterment of society. They are taught that when you work for society’s betterment, you are actually working for the betterment of yourself and humanity. They learn different easy ways to work for the betterment. Even there are institutions where students practically experience all these things.

Learn about socio-culture sensitivity:

Every society has different colours, which means people from different cultures and social backgrounds. But to live in a society, it is important to learn how to live with the people who are different from you socially and culturally. This is what students learn in this education through. The students of citizen and character education have acceptance for all. They learn how to live peacefully in a society without having any type of discrimination and racism in their hearts or minds.

Character and citizen education are provided at different levels in different education. Although every institution teaches students in different ways and according to their plan, the main objective is to teach students the above teachings. Most institutions start teaching all these things from the early years of education, but parents should have to play a vital role in CCE too.