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Drama Festival to encourage literacy in schools
– Allied Arts Administrator
With a view to strengthening literacy among students, the Ministry of Education through its Allied Arts Unit is preparing to host the Eighth Secondary Schools Drama Festival which is scheduled for July 3- 4.
Desiree Wyles-Ogle
The biennial event, according to Administrator of Allied Arts, Ms Desiree Wyles-Ogle, will not only allow students from across the country to showcase their various dramatic talents, but will set the stage for the participants from one school to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival. The event is slated for later this year in Barbados.
Speaking of the local Festival during an interview with this publication, Wyles-Ogle explained that “the activity is for secondary school students and they must be between the ages of 12… and they must be in school if they are going to enter into the Caribbean Drama Festival.”
Among the outstanding entries, a few will be selected to participate in the National Drama Festival which is organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
Wyles-Ogle disclosed that the Allied Arts Unit is tasked with promoting the expressive arts, that is, dance, drama, music, visual arts and physical education in the schools’ curriculum in Guyana.
In this regard, the Festival is one that is designed to develop positive dramatic skills, she added.
“We want to foster teamwork, self-discipline and clarify ideas, and in that aspect of clarifying ideas we have teamed up with the School Retention programme of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security,” said the Allied Arts Administrator.
She explained that this very collaboration was instrumental in having one of the topics chosen for the Festival being child labour. “So we will be having plays, dance, drama and storytelling in relation to child labour,” said Wyles-Ogle, who explained that the topic is premised on the June 12 World Day against Child Labour observance.
She said, too, that the Human Services Ministry had requested of the Allied Arts Unit to undertake some artistic presentations on child labour to commemorate Child Labour Day. “Instead of doing something separately, we decided that we could fuse the activities, but not all the plays will be on child labour…they (participants) can choose others, but those schools that choose the area of child labour will be given special prizes,” said Wyles-Ogle.
And those schools that embrace in an outstanding way the topic of child labour will be afforded special prizes, compliments of the Human Services Ministry, valued at $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000.
And although the Festival is not intended to be competitive, she did note that the most promising actor and actress of each play will be identified and rewarded with a bag of goodies, even as schools are awarded plaques based on varying merits.
According to Wyles-Ogle too, “if they (students) perform with excellence there is a plaque for that and there will also be plaques for good and satisfactory performances too.”
The Festival, which will be held in two sessions (09:30 – 12:30 and 13:00 to 16:00 hours daily) at the Theatre Guild, Parade Street, Georgetown, is intended to target the school population, but Wyles-Ogle informed that the public will certainly not be prevented from attending.
Already the Allied Arts Unit has received 17 entries for the Festival with the assurance that some 250 students from across the school districts will participate. The categories for the entries are ‘Straight Play’ (that is one from a school text), a play from a Caribbean Playwright or a Dance Drama and Storytelling piece.
All schools participating will be given support in the form of a stipend from the Education Ministry to finance costumes, props and other needful materials to facilitate their participation, said Wyles-Ogle.
She said that the Festival will see directors of the various presentations being duly recognised since “we know they will be working weekends and after hours to make this possible.”
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