Ahead of the December 19 District Level Elections, the Asante-Akim South Municipal Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has been engaging senior high school students on the need to participate in the exercise. The goal is to address the perennial low turnouts in local elections by whipping up the interest of eligible young people to vote in the upcoming election. Consequently, the Directorate had taken its civic education on citizen participation in elections to the Juaso Senior High School, where students were educated on the importance of local elections as the foundation of the country's governance structures. Mr. Patrick Asare, a Principal Civic Education Officer, exposed the students to Articles 240 and 248 of the 1992 Constitution, which give an overview of the local government system. He said those provisions defined the local government system and the composition and functions of the assemblies, adding that, the activities of various assemblies were backed by the Con stitution. The District Level Election is therefore critical to the effective administration of the assemblies, he told the students. He took time to educate them on the roles of Assembly and Unit Committee members and the importance of electing them to represent people in their electoral areas at the assemblies. Mr Asare bemoaned the low participation in local elections over the years and urged the students to see it as a civic responsibility crucial to the development at the district level. 'Election at the local level brings development to the various electoral areas with the help of the assembly members and the unit committee members that are elected,' he reiterated. He said apart from representing people in their electoral areas, Assembly Members had the responsibility to communicate the outcomes of Assembly meetings to the people. Mr. Gaston Defoe, the Municipal Director of the NCCE, also walked the students through the functions of Unit Committees in aiding the Assembly Members to perform their d uties. He encouraged registered voters among the students to vote on December 19 as citizens to contribute to the democratic process. Mr. Henry Akoto, a Tutor and Patron of the Civic Education Club in the school, entreated students who had not joined the club to do so immediately to become conversant with the provisions in the 1992 Constitution. Source: Ghana News Agency