Civic Education Handbook Published By Office Of Political Ombudsman

To mark Jamaica’s 60th year of Independence and the 20th year of existence of the Office of the Political Ombudsman (OPO), the OPO has published a Civic Education handbook, titled ‘Jamaica Strong and Free’. Political Ombudsman, Donna Parchment Brown, said the book captures both the aspiration and inspiration for more civic knowledge, stronger civic depositions and a renewed commitment to respect unity and democracy.

According to her, it is a worthy successor to the190-page ‘Civics for Young Jamaicans’, written by Leonard Cecil Ruddock in 1967.

“We believe that the civic handbook honours this one and adds to the benefit of today’s children,” Mrs. Parchment Brown said, as she addressed a JIS ‘Think Tank’, today (May 24).

Giving an overview of the publication, she said it is written in a user-friendly way, is illustrated in an engaging manner and is full of knowledge that can be used to make one a more aware and informed citizen.

“The ideation for such an important book came about after a review of the last General Election. We had an idea of an election campaign review in 2019; however, when we hosted a delegation from the Commonwealth Secretariat, they told us election review was a best practice,” Mrs. Parchment Brown noted.

One of the recommendations that came out of the review is that there was need for civic, electoral and political education in Jamaica, and they suggested that the Political Ombudsman should play a big role in facilitating this education, in partnership with the political parties and other stakeholders.

“So many persons have contributed to what we believe is a very important book. We engaged over 50 stakeholder discussants from academia, youth groups, civil society, political parties, media, churches, and business representatives,” Mrs. Parchment Brown noted.

“We also engaged a consultant, a former educator, who assisted the OPO in producing this handbook,” she added.

The handbook’s content covers topics such as civic responsibility; a brief history of the political and electoral process in Jamaica; voter education; electoral cycle; brief synopsis of the Jamaican Constitution; and Jamaica’s governance structure and processes.

There is also information on the rules and functions of some key institutions, such as the Integrity Commission, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the OPO, Electoral Office of Jamaica and Office of the Public Defender.

A part of the OPO strategy is to get this book in the hands of every Jamaican; therefore, it is available free of cost on www.opo.gov.jm. The QR Code can also be scanned to access a copy. The Political Ombudsman has a fundamental role to help the citizens of Jamaica understand and believe in their democracy, and play a role as good citizens to ensure that Jamaican politics is clean.