The Assin South District Assembly Centre for National Culture, as part of its Ghana at 69 independence Day Celebration, organized a Cultural dialogue themed “Positioning Ghana Culturally on the global market, through Music, Food, and Dressing”.
Speakers on the Dialogue were, Nana Kwabena Wadei III, Benkumhen of Kyekyeweremane State, Mr. Anthony Quarshie, the PRO of Assin South District Education Directorate, Mr. Peter Baffoe, the Head Teacher of Assin Nkran Ngresi Basic B, and Mr. Abdallah Nurudeen, the District Budget Analyst of Assin South District Assembly.
Discussions focused on ways to unlock potentials through talents discovery in our various schools as well as how we can market the Ghanaian Culture globally for economic growth and development.
Mr. Perter Derrick Baffoe, indicated that, the standard of cultural activities like Drama competitions, traditional dance performances, poetry recitals and many other extracurricular activities has over the years reduced drastically in schools due to the introduction of so many subjects in basic curriculum, which is of much concern to them, as teachers who appreciates Arts.
Nana Kwabena Wadei III Benkumhen of Kyekyeweremane State, Believes the lack of attention for culture and inadequate allocation of funds from Government and Ghana education service has negatively affected arts talent discovery and nurturing in schools and commuties at large.
The District Culture officer Miss Safuratu Mbo Alhassan, made a suggested to the District Education Directorate, to consider declaring one day in every week for students to wear African wear as a way of promoting fabrics and garments made here in Ghana for Cultural and Economic growth.
Stressing on how to position our Culture globally, through Music, Food, and Dressing, Mr. Abdallah Nuru- highlighted the need for government of Ghana to consider getting Cultural coordinators to all Ghana Embassies who will serve as the ambassadors of the Ghanaian culture abroad, with the organization of festivals and activities like Ghanaian centered food bazaar and fashion shows which could trigger foreigners to want to visit Ghana to have a feel of it culture.
The PRO of Assin South District Education Directorate welcomed concerns and promised to take all views in to consideration in their next education stakeholders meeting for deliberation.
The platform was also used to discuss briefly, the recent increase in violence in our Senior High Schools and particularly, Central Region.
Mr. Nuru-Deen attributed the cause of these violence to social media, enfacising that, the youth of Ghana are copying blindly the behaviors of the Western world forgetting that our cultures are different.
However, Nana Kwabena Wadei III, believes parental failure is partly to be blamed for the recent trend of violence in senior High School.
He explained that, a child first point of socialization are his parents, however in recent times, parents aggressively attack each other in front of their children without decorum and the long run effect of such behaviors is what we see in our Schools today.
The District Culture officer also belief that, peers and teachers can not be left out of the blame and therefore suggest to the Ghana Education service to consider planning an intentional National dialogue on this matter, to solicit ideas and solutions to stop this canker, before it gets out of hand.
Assin Nkran Ngresi Basic B Cultural troupe, lightened up our day with beautiful and authentic traditional dance performances through out the dialogue breaks. Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts National Commission on Culture National Commission on Culture Gh Centre for National Culture- CNC Cape Coast.
