Parents urged to inculcate knowledge of arts into children

Accra, Dec. 16, GNA – Mr Michael Attipoe, Director of Finance and Administration, National Commission on Culture on Friday urged parents to inculcate the knowledge of art in their children, which is the surest way to develop and appreciate culture in society.

He said children must be taken through the arts of home, cleanliness, cooking, schooling, farming, eating, building construction, painting, drama, music and dance.

Mr Attipoe made the call at the opening session of the two-day 2011 edition of Kiddafest in Accra. It is on the theme: “The Art - A Way to Develop a Child”.

The festival would be bubbling with an array of artistic performance by the youth and children in dance, drama, music, poetry, rap, beauty and talents, and food fair.

It was established over a decade on the National Theatre's flagship programmes to unearth creative talents in children and to serve as an educational tool and entertainment to provide a platform for inter-cultural experiences to boost their confidence.

Mr Attipoe said if art was seriously applied, it would enable future generations to grow and ensure development and progress within the shortest possible time.

He said it was time to do away with foreign cultures, especially those that degenerated the country's culture and customs.

Mr Attipoe stated that children participating and performing in programmes such as Kiddafest, would go a long way in making the nation great and strong.

He urged parents to encourage their children to read books as well as participate in arts programmes while they were young.

Mr Alexander Akorlie Agbodo, who chaired the session, said Kiddafest had been the trail-blazer in nurturing the youth and bringing the best out of the kids which had ended a lot more of people in responsible positions in both government and private organisations.

He noted that Kiddafest was born out of the belief that a forum for children artistic conceptualisation and expression was imperative for the society.

Mr Agbodo said since culture was dynamic there was the need to build on them and Ghanaians should learn to appreciate their culture.

Mrs Hawa Haruna, Deputy Executive Director of Finance and Administration at the National Theatre, said Kiddafest was usually organised on the last day of the first term before vacation when students had completed their examinations.

She said participants had the opportunity to socially network, meet long lost friends and act like a learning experience and serve as an outlet to showcase and develop their talents.

Mrs Haruna said children were future leaders and therefore bringing them up required also that they would respect elders and those in authority by watching their way of dressing, mannerisms and talking.

She urged children to be of good behaviour and seriously engaged in culture adding "to deny culture is to deny your heritage".

Schools from all the ten regions participated in the festival.

GNA