In any democracy, the quality of government is only as good as the quality of its citizens. After sixteen years of war, there is an acute need in Lebanon for intensive civic education both within the school system and among the general public. The LCPS has made a head start in this area by preparing and publishing the first post-war civic education book entitled: "The Citizen and Civic Education in Lebanon ".

The book is innovative in both form and content. It was written by a team of over a dozen leading educators and illustrated by a handful of the country's top young artists. It has already been adopted by a number of schools and is intended for use by students of the 14-15 age group.

It contains chapters on diversity, tolerance, dialogue, equality, justice, democracy, the state, distribution of power, Lebanese law, voting, human rights, handicapped rights, the environment, the Arab League, and the United Nations.

This book is intended to be the first in a series of civic books which are to cover all classes from kindergarten through high school as well as a number of smaller civic booklets intended for use by the general public on such issues as Women's Rights, How To Vote, How to Improve the Environment, How to Improve Your Neighbourhood, etc.

After publications and in April 1994, The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies held a one-day workshop that assembled educators, government officials concerned, as well as public officials, to discuss and evaluate the contents of the book.

During the workshop, the team of educators who were involved in writing the chapters of the book gave presentations on their chapters.

Furthermore, in order to ensure the effectiveness of a civics curriculum, a book of concepts and theories was not sufficient for a generation raised and exposed to an atmosphere of violence, intolerance, and corruption. To this day, teaching techniques remain based on the passive learning methods of old times, the need to engage students in new participatory and interactive methods which enhance their learning process led the Center to embark on producing a teacher's guide along with the student's civics book entitled: "The Citizen and Civic Education in Lebanon: A Teacher's Guide " . The guide features class plans, activities, additional reading, and exercise material.

The purpose of the teacher's guide is to help students in applying and relating the concepts learned from the book to their daily experiences, and to help teachers apply the concepts and theories conveyed in the CCEL book into lesson plans, exercises (in the mental or practical form), and case studies that translate and relate the learned concepts of real life situations.

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