Govt to put studios, creative arts into schools

The government will install fully equipped music production studios in a number of secondary schools and introduce a national student festival to create clear career pathways into the global entertainment industry, as the education minister joined a soca star to launch a new curriculum drive.

Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman and soca queen Alison Hinds met with artists on Wednesday to launch the initiative, which aims to build direct career pathways into the global entertainment industry and bring creative arts into the national curriculum. As part of the first phase, fully equipped music production studios are to be built in several secondary schools.

“We believe, and we’re gonna do it, that in the number of secondary schools in the first phase, we’re gonna have music studios where students can learn to produce beats,” Blackman said.

Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman. (Photo credit: Ricardo Roberts/Barbados TODAY)

“Second of all, being able to write music and musical scores for soundtracks, not just for Barbadian movies, but whether it be Nollywood, Hollywood, or wherever. If you can create not just the appetite but the infrastructure to allow them to be able to understand how to do it, you would then create a career pathway and an interest.”

The programme will also feature a national student festival, teaching students how to manage events — from law students drafting contracts to accounting students managing budgets. 

Hinds, who brought the creative community together for the project, said the initiative is vital to reconnect youth with their heritage:

Queen of Soca Alison Hinds. (Photo credit: Ricardo Roberts/Barbados TODAY)

“It’s important that we as creatives look at how we can take what we have, and talents and so on that we have, and how we can integrate this into our education system.

“The reality is that we have some generations that are getting lost, and they’ve kind of had a disconnect between themselves and our culture and who we are. If we now don’t make an intentional move to be able to do something, then it’s just gonna continue to get worse and worse, and that’s not what we want.”

Hinds emphasised that the partnership goes far beyond simple guest appearances in schools:

“This is actually actively being involved in helping our young people to understand who they are, how important they are, how special they are, and how unique they are, and that coming from this tiny island, that they can go and have a world impact from here.”

The ministry also plans to integrate technology, using artificial intelligence and a national student music playlist to support self-paced learning.

Blackman said this cultural shift is key to Barbados achieving global academic leadership:

“We’ve set a very bold ambition that we must be the number one education system in the world for the next six years.

“Therefore, how do you reposition education from what it was and is into what it can be and must be? Our DNA gives us the proof that there’s nothing that we cannot do once we set our mind to do it, and we must now say to the world unapologetically, whilst humbly saying so, that this is where we’re gonna go.”

(RR)