Do you know art education in schools important

Did you know that ARTS EDUCATION is so important in nurturing your child’s creative
abilities?
In this age and time, many parents and teachers are yet to realize the significance of Arts education to a child’s
educational development and personal growth. As a parent, how would you sincerely answer this question? That is what
this article is set to address.

"Every child is an artist, the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up", Pablo Picasso.
Creativity is an innate aspect of our humanity, possessed by everyone, including children. It is the responsibility of↲
parents and teachers to help the children to nurture this latent skill through systematic artistic engagements.
Art plays an important role in our schools for a balanced education and a child that does not receive art education is denied
this opportunity. The arts are unique tools to stimulate and enrich learning. The arts are an integral part of a complete,
successful and quality education. Arts education is the foundation of balanced creative, cognitive, emotional, aesthetic
and social development of children, youth and life-long learners.
“Creativity is a characteristic given to all human beings at birth.” Abraham Maslow
All humans have creative potentials. The arts provide an environment and practice where the learner is actively engaged
in creative experiences, processes, and developments. Arts Education contributes to an education which integrates
physical, intellectual and creative faculties and makes possible more dynamic and fruitful relations between education,
culture and the arts.
“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…music, dance,
painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.” –William
Bennett,
Art is essential in your child’s education because it instills in children the habits of mind that last a lifetime: critical
analysis skills, the ability to deal with ambiguity and to solve problems, perseverance and a drive for excellence. Also, the
creative skills children develop through the arts carry them towards new ideas, new experiences, and new challenges, not
to mention personal satisfaction. This is the intrinsic value of the arts and it cannot be overestimated.
Art is a unique way of knowing and understanding the world. Purposeful visual art activities expand children’s ways of
exploring, expressing and coming to terms with the world they inhabit in a structured and enjoyable way. Children first
learn to respond aesthetically to their environment through touch, taste, sound, and smell and their natural curiosity
suggests a need for sensory experience. Visual art education helps to develop sensory awareness, enhances sensibilities
and emphasizes particular ways of exploring, experimenting and inventing. Arts-infused education builds 21st-century
skills—the 4 Cs of creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration— and improves learning.
Is Arts Education for the gifted few in selected disciplines or for all?
“An elementary school that treats the arts as the province of a few gifted children, or views them only as
recreation and entertainment, is a school that needs an infusion of soul. That art is an essential element of
education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic.” –William Bennett
The Nigerian National Policy on Education recognizes the “cultural and creative Arts” as a core subject at both
elementary and junior secondary school levels, but Creative Art practices in our secondary schools are presently relegated
to the background. Parents encourage their children to pay more attention to science-based disciplines. Many are of the
opinion that creative art is only for the gifted, which is absolutely wrong. The Cultural and Creative Arts curriculum, if
well implemented, is expected to produce creative, patriotic and productive Nigerians who will contribute optimally to
national development, irrespective of their chosen professions.
The Cultural and Creative Arts curriculum is an integration of Visual Arts, Drama, and Music and is primarily concerned
with the role arts and culture can play in the education of the present and future generations as they search for meanings
with the following objectives:

1. To provide the opportunity for students to develop a language for expressing ideas, feelings, emotions, and moods through a
variety of art experiences (creative growth);
2. To provide the opportunity for students to learn the proper use of art tools, equipment, and materials;
3. To provide the opportunity for students to understand and appreciate works of art;
4. To provide the opportunity for students to gain knowledge and develop intellectually, physically and culturally through
art,
5. To provide the opportunity for students to have adequate skill and competence for higher education in art;
6. To provide the opportunity for students to develop an interest in future vocation in art;
7. To provide the opportunity for students to see the usefulness of art in other subject areas and the society.
Source article: insea.org