School Art: Centre Region Shines The Light On Its Best

On March 24, 2021 and until April 7, 2021, Lycée General Leclerc in the Ngoa-Ekelle neighbourhood of Yaounde brings together the best in school art and culture from the Centre Region. Showcasing students from 12 outstanding colleges in the three main art modules of performing art (theatre, storytelling, poetry recitation, dance, music, choral music); fine arts (painting, drawing, handicraft) and music education (techniques of playing music).

“This year’s theme is “Reawakening the spirit of art in schools.” The choice was prompted by the fact that since the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic, art activities in schools have been completely sidelined,” explains Avouzoa Justine Christine, President of the « Concertation des Encadreurs du Réseau des Formateurs en Arts et Culture du Centre. »  CERPESAC - the network of school art and culture trainers in the Centre Region. The Ministry of Secondary Education introduced art in its curriculum in 2008.

As organisers of the 2021 Centre Regional School Art and Cultural Festival, Avouzoa says CERPESAC decided to go beyond evaluating students at the end of the school year only in music and painting. Especially as there is also the aspect of culture that is not often perceived. “Given that there is an Art Day at the national level, we decided to also hold it at the regional level,” she notes. The festival was preceded by preliminaries in different schools in the Centre Region to shortlist the 12 best to participate in the regional grand finale.

Meanwhile, prizes will be handed out on April 7, 2021 in the Cameroon Cultural Centre, Yaounde. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, a few schools were retained for the festival. “This is the fourth Centre Regional Art Festival. The innovation this year is that we have introduced all components of art. In the first, we had only theatre; performing art in the second and in the third, we added art handicraft,” explains Avouzoa Justine Christine. She is also the Centre Regional Pedagogic Inspector for Art in charge of the Art Subsection.

“We hope to better evaluate students on art, determine if students have truly understood the importance of the implementation of art in education, and for the regional art day to be recognized by the authorities,” Avouzoa lists her expectations of the regional art and cultural festival.