AS the Ministry moves ahead with the  reintroduction  of music into schools, the Minister of Education, Dr. Roopnaraine, pays recognition to Republic Bank for the implementation of a music literacy programme. On Thursday the Republic Bank Limited hosted an award ceremony for children who participated in the Bank’s Right Start Music Literacy: Pan Minors Programme.  The Minister, invited to give the feature address, said that the young people who have benefited from the programme are not merely learning a musical skill, but they have started a process that would see them becoming part of the living embodiment of what we are as a people, which was forged by the history of Guyana and the Region.

The Minister said, “ Republic Bank deserves recognition and applause for its role in supporting this Pan Music Literacy Programme in itself, as well as part of its wide commitment to the re-development of steel pan music in Guyana.” He added that this is a very important investment in creative education, especially since creative industries account for billions of dollars in this hemisphere, and with Caribbean nations re-tooling themselves to take advantage of this sphere of economic activity. The Minister told the gathering that the bank’s investment in this area of education may well be an incidental investment in human resource development for the regional creative economy.  His hope is that, in the not too distant future, the RBL  and other financial institutions are going to see investment in the creative industries as a viable path for diversification of their financial portfolio.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roopnaraine took the opportunity to reiterate commitment to mapping, consolidating and replicating such efforts as this, not just in music, but in all of arts education. He believes that this is a model that can be replicated by other corporate partners.

The Minister urged the RBL and other corporate partners to turn their attention to the Theatre Guild, a vital national resource that must not be neglected, stating, “Books are for the mind; music is for the soul. The aim of education must be the education of the whole child.”