THE Education Ministry’s Secondary Schools Visual Arts Exhibition officially opened yesterday at the National Library at Church and Main streets, Georgetown as part of Education Month 2013 activities, being observed under the theme ‘Transforming classrooms for the 21st century’.

This exhibition, the display of artwork submitted by secondary school students as part of their school-based assessments (SBAs) for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, is being held daily from 09:00 hrs to 16:30 hrs, and will run until Friday, September 20. Art work in areas such as textile design and manipulation, ceramics and sculpture, printmaking and leather craft are on display from schools such as Patentia Secondary, Bygeval Secondary, Bishops’ High, Cotton Field Secondary and Waramadong Secondary.
There is also a section for items such as floral arrangements, pillowcases and jewellery which were made by children from the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre’s Special Education Unit.
Declaring the exhibition open, Assistant Chief Education Officer for Secondary Schools, Ms. Leslyn Charles, underscored the importance of art in the school curriculum, while stating that any student who is engaged in any of the art subjects is given the opportunity to have a well rounded education.
She said the benefits derived from being involved in art include being in an environment conducive to learning; fostering innovation, positive professional culture and committee engagement; and being in an environment which encourages increased student attendance.
Ms. Charles noted that Visual Arts is a subject included in every other subject that is done in every other subject area, and students must know how to do some form of visual arts in order to do other subjects. She added that being involved in visual arts also nurtures a sense of motivation to learn, because it emphasises active engagement and sustains attention, while helping students to persist and to take risks in getting their work done.
Involvement in Visual Arts, she said, inspires thinking as well as the mathematical skills to be used, and it helps persons to learn some social skills which they might not otherwise learn.
Ms. Charles emphasised that Visual Arts prepares a child to be economically viable, in that that child can use the skills gained to secure employment, whether self-employment or employment with someone else. So she encouraged students to be involved in doing the arts, especially within the school system.
Also making brief remarks at the event was Visual Arts Co-coordinator of the Unit of Allied Arts of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Rawle Franklin, who said that art lives in each and every person, and is a part of every aspect of one’s life.
He said persons should not dismiss art, but should support it whenever they can; and he pointed out that the exhibition is an encouragement to those persons who would want to pursue art.
He informed that the decision was taken this year to have the art works on display marketed in Guyana.
Mr. Franklin said every teacher should give art its worth, while pointing out that students who are not as competent as their peers in academics are sent to do the art.
He encouraged teachers to incorporate art into all subject areas, and help children to understand what it is, since it is easier for them to relate to art than to writing.
When students are allowed to express themselves via art, he said, they are given more scope, because the reasoning they would have to use can stand them in good stead in other subjects.
Mr. Franklin urged his superiors to place more emphasis and investment in areas such as visual arts, dance, music, drama, physical education and sport, which help to make students more rounded individuals.