Communal Services – JSS3 Civic Education Lesson Note (Second Term)

Community service is an act that people engage in to bring benefits to the local community. It may also be defined as some projects that members of a certain organization may undertake for the development of society. It is also defined as work done by a group of people that benefits others. Such organizations may include The Boys Scouts, The Nigerian Red Cross Society, some high school students, and others.

Examples of community service projects include;

• Clearing pathways
• Helping the local fire or police service
• Helping the elderly in nursing homes
• Helping at the local library
• Tutoring children with learning disabilities
• Cleaning road verges
• Collecting items for charity.
• Helping the hungry or homeless
• Volunteering at an orphanage
• Donating your old clothes
• Donating non-perishable foods to a food bank
• Empowering society by teaching a trade

Importance of community service

• Community service helps us develop an increasing sense of social responsibility ie helping the people around us.
• It provides an opportunity to apply academic learning to real-life events.
• It helps people to find their passion and interest that may lead to career choices they may have not considered.
• It improves lifelong communication, interpersonal, and critical thinking skills.
• It helps build relationships and social connectedness with peers and adults and exposes helpers’ diversity and multiculturalism.