Education experts push for mandatory art modules across all disciplines

Experts in the education sector have proposed the incorporation of compulsory art modules within both science and arts curriculums at the advanced secondary and university levels.

Prof Anthony Mugagga Muwaga, the principal of College of Education at Makerere University, said the introduction of a compulsory art module in both disciplines will help to produce more critical thinkers. 

“You can never imagine without having an artistic impression. So, like we have a general paper and computer at advanced secondary level, we can also have a compulsory art module across all disciplines,” Prof Mugagga said on Wednesday at Makerere University during the research dissemination on visual arts curriculum for senior secondary art teachers in Uganda.

“Art is a critical subject that enhances critical thinking among children. So, if you want to teach how to critically think, to be innovative and imaginative, you have to teach them art such carpentry, sculptor, cartoons among others,” he added.

Prof Mugagga also urged the government to increase the Teacher Training College budget such that they have more practical sessions that will support them to realign the institution’s curriculum into the new lower secondary curriculum.

“The new curriculum requires bigger practical implications. We need to take students to the field and give them practical exercises but we don’t have the money. We need an additional fund of at least Shs3 billion to facilitate it,”

The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) Director, Ms Grace Baguma, re-echoed the need for art education, highlighting its potential to boost creativity and analytical skills among teachers and learners.

“People have been saying literature is a very good subject because it teaches people how to be analytical thinkers and communicators. So this can also happen in art because art is communication. If we can have it cross cutting and somebody gets a dose of it, you learn many things including how to dress, among others,” Ms Baguma said.

In the same vein, Julius Ssegantebuka, the principal investigator of the visual arts curriculum research project, said art is a service discipline and all students across different disciplines should be given an opportunity to learn it.

“We refer to it as a servicing discipline. There is no discipline where you don't do art, where you don't draw. If you are doing medicine, you have to draw the diagrams they use. If you are doing engineering, there is a lot of drawing. If you are doing architecture, there is a lot of drawing," he added. 

The second phase of the visual arts curriculum study that was launched on April 17, 2024 was developed by a group of six university researchers, collecting data from pre-service art teachers and learners at the university and secondary levels of education. 

It aims to equip pre-service teachers with the necessary 21st century skills for effective art education.

According to Dr Timothy Tebenkana, the co-principal investigator, the study aimed to address concerns about the lack of necessary competencies among art teachers as well as examining the structure and implementation of the current lower secondary curriculum.

“We have realised that most of the art teachers do not want to read. So in this virtual arts curriculum, we would like to emphasise both theory and practical,” Mr Tebenkana said.