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RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP ---- CIVICS FORM ONE STUDY NOTES
{II}.Citizenship
Responsibilities
To many people, duty and
responsibility are two words which are used interchangeably most of the time.
Duty simply means a legal or moral obligation of a person to perform certain
legal tasks. On the other hand, responsibility is the situation of having a
duty and be blamed if one does wrong. Therefore, all citizens have duties and
responsibilities to perform in their country
The
Responsibilities of a Citizen
Explain
the responsibilities of a citizen
These responsibilities are also
called civic responsibilities. They can be put into four categories — personal,
political, social and economic.
Personal Responsibility- A person can be considered a good citizen if one: behaves
in a respectful manner; takes care of oneself; makes worth-fully decisions;
considers the rights, freedom and interests of others and supports the family.
Political responsibilities- A good citizen should participate fully in the political
affairs of his/her nation like being well informed on local, national and
international issues. Also should watch and give opinions on the process of
government and its activities. The one who is registered, contests for
leadership and vote in every local or national election; participating in
political meetings like public rallies and local meetings to discuss local
issues and being ready to defend one’s nation, even to the extent of shedding
blood.
Social responsibilities-These rights are not limited to the following: respect for
other people’s rights, good conduct on crimes prevention and reporting. Respect
the laws of the country, be honest, civility and allegiance to the lawful
authority, protect the environment, safeguard public property, promote
education, health services and help disabled people.
Economic responsibilities-These responsibilities include: payment of taxes and duties;
doing lawful productive work; provide to dependents basic material and social
services and be active participant in community development activities
Civic
Responsibilities
Practice
civic responsibilities
Importance
of individuals fulfilling their civic responsibilities
There is a great need for
individuals to fulfill their civic responsibilities because individuals have a
duty to ask for the provision of quality education, good roads, electricity, or
water if they have already paid their taxes. This is because duties and rights
go together.
When a person fulfills ones civic
responsibilities, he/she becomes a respected person in the family, society,
nation, and even at the international level. This may make people be fully
involved in social, political and economic activities for the development of a
nation. For example, the late Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere was highly respected
everywhere because he fulfilled his responsibilities as a citizen of Tanzania.
Crimes and wrong doing will also be
reduced to a great extent if everyone fulfill his/her own civic
responsibilities. Finally, peace and security may prevail in the country.
Dangers
of not fulfilling one’s civic responsibilities
There is a great danger if citizens
do not fulfill their responsibility because a person cannot claim for ones
rights if at all one does not fulfill civic responsibilities, like paying tax
and duties. Sometimes in responsible citizens can be sued in a court of law.
For example, tax evaders, and lack of respect for the family and the nation may
prevail.
Furthermore, families of people who
do not fulfill their responsibilities lead a miserable life of poverty, and
witness an increase in social evil and ethnics, e.g. killing, stealing and
banditry. Finally, fulfillment of one’s civic responsibility contributes to the
underdevelopment of the nation.
Exercise 1
A: Match the wards in column A with
the correct statement in column B
|
Column A
|
Column B
|
|
1.
Duty
2.
Civic responsibilities
3.
Personal
responsibilities
4.
Economic
responsibilities
5.
Social
responsibilities
|
a.
pay
taxes and duties
b.
steal
ones property
c.
accept
responsibilities
d.
appointed
leadership
e.
help
disabled people
f.
having a
duty and be blamed for
g.
legal or
moral obligation for doing task
|
RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP ---CIVICS FORM ONE STUDY NOTES
{III}.Responsibilities
to Special Groups Including HIV/AIDS Victims
The
Term Special Groups
Define
the term special groups
People with special needs. These are
people who are disadvantaged. They are unable to fulfill their civil
responsibilities therefore; they need special attention from able-bodied
people. Special groups are people with unusual problems that need special care
and treatment in the society. The following are some of the special groups:
Special Needs for Each Special Group
Identify special needs for each special group
Victims of HIV/AIDS: these are people who are infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus attacks the white blood cells, which
protect the human body from infections and diseases, like acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS). These people have special problems because the
disease has no vaccination and cure. They live in fear and are stigmatized by
some members of the society. Some of them are too sick to work and cannot
afford to meet their basic needs.
Women: they too have special problems because they are
underprivileged, oppressed, exploited and treated differently from men, simply
because “they are women”. They at times suffer from rape, female genital
mutilation and forced marriages, and they are not allowed to inherit or own
property. In addition, girls’ enrolment in schools is very low compared to
boys. All these practices are socially constructed.
Disabled people/handicapped: these are people with reduced function of particular body
organ(s) and, therefore, they are limited in what they can do, although, they
can do some tasks that are within their abilities. They are sometimes
stigmatised by the society. In most cases, they are unable to meet their basic
needs.
Refugees: these are people who are forced to leave their homeland
and live in other places. This forced migration can be due to various social or
political problems like war, drought or famine. Tanzania has received refugees
from Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Refugees lack
houses, nutritious food, social services like education and health, and they
suffer from loneliness due to family disintegration.
Orphans: these are children who have no parents. They lack parental
care and love. They can neither afford to meet their basic needs nor have
access to social services, like education and health.
The youth: these are young people who are not yet adults. They suffer
from problems related to their physiological and mental growth. Girls,
sometimes, suffer from early marriages and pregnancies while some boys abuse
drugs, smoke bhang/cigarettes or join bad groups.
Children: these are human beings who are below eighteen years of
age. They are unable to support themselves in terms of all their basic and
social needs. So they need special attention from parents and the entire
community in order for them to survive.
Street children: these are disadvantaged children who are forced to live a
miserable life in the streets due to various problems, such as poverty, family
disintegration, and the influence of bad youth groups, like those involved in
drug abuse. Sometimes these children engage in unlawful acts, such as,
prostitution, stealing, child labour, begging and petty. Business so as to earn
a living.
Elderly people (the aged): because of their age, they are physically unfit to work
effectively and earn a living. Therefore, they need assistance from the
able-bodied people.
Responsibilities Towards Special Group
Point out his/her responsibilities towards special group
As discussed above, each special
group has a wide range of problems. They need special assistance to provide for
their physical, biological, social and moral needs.
They need special attention because
of their disabilities, like when crossing roads, bicycles for the disabled,
holding their hands, etc. However, these needs differ from one special group to
another. It is, therefore, the responsibility of citizens to help each special
group.
Responsibilities of citizens to the disabled
The responsibilities of citizens to
the disabled are that: Citizens should encourage and help the disabled to
consider themselves as normal citizens and thus participate in different social
and economic activities in the society. Such activities may be running a petty
business, farming or looking after domestic animals, depending on the nature of
their disability. They should also never discriminate disabled people in
schools, workplaces and in the society in general.
The disabled should be assisted to
get basic needs, like food, clothing and housing. Citizens living near or with
such people should assist them in that way. Citizens should also help the
disabled to establish special centers where they can meet and share ideas and
undertake joint economic activities. This will reduce their loneliness while at
the same time making them productive as a group.
Group of people with special needs
Moreover, citizens should help the
disabled to form their own associations that will fight for their rights. They
should ensure that the disabled have access to social services like education,
health services, water, housing and electricity.
Responsibilities of citizens to refugees
Citizens are responsible to refugees
by providing humanitarian assistance. Basically this involves giving them food,
clothing and shelter. They must also provide them with basic social services,
like water, medical care and education for their children.
They are supposed to ask refugees to
refrain from any unlawful acts (offences) like banditry, smuggling, keeping
weapons and ammunition, rape and even unlawful correspondence with their home
countries. Citizens need also to prevent refugees from destroying the
environment. This involves preventing them from clearing forests for firewood
or practice sing poor farming methods.
Finally, citizens are responsible to
co-operate with the government and non-governmental organisations, including
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), in taking care of
refugees until when they are ready to go back to their home-country
Responsibilities of citizens to HIV/IDS victims
Citizens are responsible to advise
and help the HIV/AIDS victims to receive counselling and guidance from
professional counselors. Also, citizens are responsible to advise and assist
them to attend clinics in various medical centers.
In addition, they are not supposed
to isolate or stigmatize them, rather show them love, concern and encourage
them to have hope. This is because to be infected with HIV does not mean that
one will die soon. They should also take trouble to support the victims
financially so that they can get the required diet. Finally, citizens are
responsible to visit their homes and give them company and other things to
reduce their boredom and sense of loneliness.
Responsibilities of citizens to
women
Citizens are responsible to protect
women through abolishing bad traditions and customs that oppress and exploit
women in the society, such as FGM, beating women, early marriages, forced
marriages, polygamy, and the inheritance of widows, laws forbidding women from
inheriting property, denial of equal educational opportunities for girls. They
are also responsible for helping women to form co-operative groups which can
seek funds from the government or NGOs to engage in meaningful and productive
activities.
Citizens need to ask the government
to provide women with better transport and communication systems, clean and
safe water and health services,Women should be educated so that they can
realize their rights in the society, hence, promote equality between men and
women in education, politics, employment, division of labor in the family, and
even in religious institutions.
Responsibilities of society to the aged
As the number of old people
increases in Tanzania, our society ought to help them. This can be through
buying them foodstuffs or showing them how they can grow some of the food crops
near their homes. Also citizens are supposed to provide them with comfortable
clothing and bedding so as to keep their bodies warm, especially at night.
They need to involve the aged in
organisations where they can share views with other people. This helps them to
reduce loneliness, hence, stay mentally active. They are also responsible to
assist them in getting medical care and train them to refrain from unhealthy
habits like smoking.
They are responsible to help the
aged remain physically fit by educating them on the importance of undertaking
physical exercise like walking, gardening, cycling and swimming.
Citizens are supposed to love them
and give them encouragement so that, despite their problems, they may still
have hope for a better life. We should show them that they are still valued
despite their old age. Finally, if possible for old homes, new homes should be
built for the aged, especially those who have no family members to take care of
them.
Responsibilities of the society to street children
Citizens ought to help street
children through showing them love and hospitality by giving them parental care
and trying to adopt some of them so as to assist them closely. They are also
needed to provide them with the basic necessities, like food, clothing and shelter.
Charities and religious
organisations should assist street children by giving them good moral guidance
and even supporting them materially. Joining or forming organisations aimed at
supporting street children morally and materially.
Responsibilities of citizens to the youth
Some of the responsibilities of
citizens to the youth are to ask the government to change the traditional trend
of our educational system so that it teaches the youth how to employ themselves
instead of educating them for white-collar jobs only.
Citizens are also supposed to ask
the government to increase the opportunities for secondary, technical and
tertiary education. To expand and strengthen the informal sector through
co-operation with the government so that it provides more employment.
Furthermore, citizens are supposed
to help the youth to initiate cooperative economic activities like carpentry or
gardening. Lastly, they need to assist the youth to take part in sports and
games so as to promote co-operation, love, friendliness and good health among
them.
Responsibilities of citizens to
orphans
As stated earlier, orphans get
frustrated as they lack parental care and love. To orphans, citizens ought to
provide them with basic assistance that will help them to go to school. This may
involve paying for their school materials like books, uniforms, bus fare or
even meals at school.
Also, citizens need to provide the
orphans with health-care services including paying for their treatment when
they are sick and giving them medical advice, and providing them with basic
social services like food, clothing and shelter.
In addition, citizens are
responsible for showing them love and care, since these are the things orphans
lack most. They need to be adopted and be given material and moral support.
Responsibilities of citizens to
children
Like other special groups, children,
have many problems. They are unable to provide themselves with basic needs like
food, clothing and shelter. Also, they cannot afford social services, like
education, health, water, housing and transport. They need love and care from
either parents or guardians.
Citizens have the responsibility to
ensure that children get education, especially primary education which is
provided free in Tanzania. Parents, in particular, should send their children
to school and make sure that their attendance at school is good. They need
clean and safe water, health care, and be taught good manners so that they can
grow up to be good citizens in the future.
Children should not be subjected to
child labour or any child abuse. For example, using of children to fight in
wars, for commercial sex work, to work in quarries and mines or to do
lumbering. They should get time to enjoy playing games and doing sports both at
school and in other places demarcated for such activities.
Children are supposed to be educated
on how to avoid dangerous behaviours like unsafe sex, smoking bhang and abusing
drugs. Unsafe sex can lead them to getting infected with HIV/AIDS. They need
also to be taught the importance of hard-work both at school and at home, where
they should assist their parents in some manual works.
Activity 2
Visit the nearby Centre for special
group:
- What special group is that Centre for?
- What are their responsibilities?
- How can you help those special groups?
Sunday, June 5, 2016
RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP ----- CIVICS FORM ONE STUDY NOTES
Responsible Citizenship
Concept of Citizenship
The term citizenship comes from the
word citizen which means a person who is accepted as a member and who belongs
to a certain country.
The Meaning of Citizen and
Citizenship
Explain the meaning of citizen and
citizenship
In Tanzania a person cannot be a
citizen of more than one country. Therefore, citizenship is the state of being
a citizen of a particular country. A responsible citizen is the one who
fulfills the duties and responsibilities of a citizen in his country.
Types and the Importance of
Citizenship
Explain types and the importance of
citizenship
There are three main types of
citizenship - by birth, naturalization registration or by descent.
Citizenship
by birth
This is the type of citizenship that
most citizens have in a given country. It means, a person has citizenship
status simply by being born to parents who are citizens of that country. It is
sometimes known as natural citizenship.
A copy of birth certificate
Citizenship by naturalization/registration
This involves applying to the
ministry responsible for granting citizenship status. This is given to those
who have been positively accepted by the concerned ministry. For instance, if a
non-citizen wishes to become a Tanzanian citizen he or she can apply to the
Ministry of Home Affairs for citizenship.
The registration and naturalization,
application process
Citizenship by registration is
granted directly in Tanzania to any female applicant who is married to a
Tanzanian, no matter whether she is from a Commonwealth or non-Commonwealth
country. Any citizen of a Commonwealth country may also apply for citizenship
by registration. People from non-Commonwealth countries may also apply for
citizenship. In order for citizenship to be granted, applicants must meet the
following conditions:
1.
Has legally lived in the country for
not less than five years continuously.
2.
Able to speak Kiswahili or English
fluently.
3.
Well behaved; that means does not
found engaging in criminal offenses.
4.
Make an oath denouncing his or her
previous citizenship.
5.
Promise to be a good citizen and to
be loyal to the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. These
conditions are also applicable to women married to Tanzanian citizens.
Citizenship by descent
A person who was born outside the
country, but whose parents are citizens of Tanzania by birth or naturalization,
can also apply for citizenship to the minister of Home Affairs.
Loss of citizenship in Tanzania
In Tanzania one can lose citizenship
status on three grounds;
1.
If a Tanzanian citizen holds dual
nationality; that is, if is a Tanzanian citizen at the same time a member of
another country or other countries.
2.
If one denounces his/her Tanzanian
citizenship.
3.
If one obtained his/her citizenship
by fraud. Note: There are some cases where a person can be a citizen of
two countries (dual citizenship). In Tanzania, this is not applied to date, but
there is a move to dual citizenship in Tanzania.
Importance of citizenship
Citizenship is important as a
citizen receives legal rights for being a member to a certain country, and is
protected as a citizen of that country. It is also the legal way of being
recognized as a person belonging to a particular country, and the country
receives loyalty from its citizens.
Additionally a person gains legitimacy
to involve in decisions in the country; for instance, citizens vote for leaders
or can be voted for as leaders. A country can also impose its authority upon
its citizens to carry out its policies for the development of the nation.
Finally, a country gets revenue from its citizens through taxes paid by them.
Activity 1
1. Ask your fellow students, what
type of citizenship they are?2 What type of your citizenship?
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