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Reposition Strategy Critical For Music Education Transformation In Nigeria — Fehintola

By Oludare Richards, Abuja
05 January 2020   |   4:16 am
Music education providers have been urged to seek and explore opportunities and partnerships that will enable music education thrive in Nigeria. Making this known is Mr. Babatunde Fehintola, founder of Davchel Royal Academy..

Music education providers have been urged to seek and explore opportunities and partnerships that will enable music education thrive in Nigeria. Making this known is Mr. Babatunde Fehintola, founder of Davchel Royal Academy, a provider of music education, based in Abuja. He said strategic approach is necessary in order to reposition music education in the country especially for young children.

According to him, by using technology-based tools and 21st century teaching methods, young music talents can be nurtured and developed in Nigeria, thus, making them musically competitive among peers across the globe. Recently, the music academy held its end of the year event where young students, at average age of nine, displayed their musical skills to the admiration of their parents and audience. It was an opportunity to show what they have learnt from the academy in the past year.

Fehintola said that the music academy hopes to achieve more successes within the educational sphere of music through cultural exchange initiatives with expatriate music practitioners and communities in Nigeria, collaboration with international examination boards, partnerships with schools, government agencies and other private individuals and corporations willing to promote music education in the country.

“There is an urgent need to bridge the existing gap in music education in Nigeria by connecting with global standards and demands in order to provide the right educational programmes that create an opportunity for everyone to excel musically and in other artistic performances of dance, drama and speech.”

Fehintola believes that the music sector is a vibrant one, which contributes positively to the economy of nations, hence should be a priority for all stakeholders in Nigeria. He explained that as an example, the music sector recently outweighed all other active economic sectors in the United Kingdom, according to a research carried out by Measuring Music. This, he said, “is an indication that sector needs to be developed, made vibrant and active in every forward-thinking society.”

For him, “this can only be achieved through quality music education with trusted globally recognised curriculum to help ensure that young children are developed into artists of the 21st century who have their recognised spaces on the global professional music agenda.”

According to Fehintola, students of the music institution are groomed at early years with impactful syllabus, which guides children toward becoming skilled in the theoretical and practical aspects of music education. He believes that students who excel by earning distinctions in globally recognised music examinations at their tender ages are proof that a Nigerian child can succeed and compete exceptionally on the global stage if given the opportunity and the right platform.

“Most parents understand that in our dynamic world, learning a skill with sustained commitment is a unique endeavor that would benefit a child for a life time. These parents enroll their children in music academies because they know the impact of music education on a child’s social and all round development.

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