MUSIC EDUCATION IN IDEMILI NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF ANAMBRA STATE: PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS AND IMPORTANCE

Abstract

Music education in Nigerian secondary schools took a different and contrary dimension in 2007 and again revised in 2012. In 2007, it was coined under Cultural and Creative Arts (C.C.A.) comprising Fine and Applied Arts, Music and Drama. Later in 2012, another revised version of the curriculum came up in form of Fine and Applied Arts, Music, Dance, Customs and Traditions as Cultural and Creative Arts (C.C.A.). According to Obioma (2012), the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) first published Cultural and Creative Arts in J. S. S. 1 – 3 in 2007 and revised in 2012 so that the curriculum can be adapted for such special needs as nomadic education, non-formal education and education of the musically challenged (pp. ii – iv). This concussion, without doubt, led to the problems of music education in Nigeria as a whole and in Idemili North Local Government Area secondary schools in particular. There and then, the teaching and learning of music in the secondary schools started dwindling and encountering serious sickness. This also led to the lack of in-depth knowledge of the course (music) which without doubt started witnessing falling from its standard because students and teachers lost interest in the lucrative and the interesting course - music. If we recall what music used to be before the year 2,000 in our secondary schools up to tertiary institutions, it was regarded as double major courses. This implies that it cannot be combined with any other course(s) because of its branches and contents. This was done to help the learners to be self-reliant and professionals as soon as they finish their programme.