The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Creative Arts Agency, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo, held her first meeting with the Creative Arts Education Committee on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

At the meeting comprising stakeholders in the creative arts industry gleaned from the mainstream arts and entertainment sector, the media and academia, Gyankroma charged the committee to expedite action on its mandate, so they could present a proposed bill to Parliament.

“I’m hoping that we have some sort of proposed bill before the end of the year to be implemented,” she said.

As part of laying a solid foundation for the arts in terms of education, the committee has been tasked to find ways of liaising with the Ministry of Education to make teaching and learning in schools more effective and practicable.

Speaking at the meeting, Ms. Gyankroma said there were plans to start the initiative from the teacher training colleges.

According to her, starting with them will ensure there is a firm footing for the project since teachers are the implementers of the curriculum.

“We’ve found that we don’t have the practitioners who are actually trained within the industry itself. But there are separate teachers and not really creative arts teachers,” she said.

“I spoke to the Minister of Education, and he felt we need to tackle teacher training first but also starting first with our industry players,” Gyankroma added.

She also noted that the challenge with the teaching and learning of creative arts in schools has been a result of the fact that teachers are not versed in the arts courses.

Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and the Creative Arts Education Committee at their first meeting

Arts education is one of the major concerns of the creative sector. Successive governments have been criticised for not making it more attractive.

Arts stakeholders have overly expressed worry over the fact that the educational system from the basic level is bereft of the right structures and incentives to make it more attractive and effective.

It has therefore been argued that to really experience higher gains in the arts sector, there needs to be a deliberate attempt to harness talents in schools from the cradle.