Reviewing the National Cultural Festival: The Case of the Effutu Municipal Education Directorate from 2009-2019, Ghana 1. Introduction The culture of reviewing national programs or events has received little attention from researchers, although recommendations from such reviews assist in strengthening the programs for the development of the nation as a whole. The purpose of a program review is to determine the viability and effectiveness of that program or event (Hanover Research, 2012). The National Cultural Festival for basic schools in Ghana which started in 1989 is one such event that requires review. Culture provides the knowledge needed to adapt to our surroundings to harness resources from the natural environment (Nannyonga-Tamusuza, 2003) and to solve problems of living in a particular place. It gives people the skills they need to produce the tools, shelter, clothing and other objects they use to service the community (Gbadegbe & Mensah, 2013; van der Borg & Russo, 2005). As they grow up, children socially learn skills for tracking game, gathering wild plants, making gardens, herding livestock or finding jobs, depending on how people make their living in a particular society. The National Cultural Festival is run alternatively between basic and the second cycle schools. Hence it is an event that is held biennially for each category of schools (basic and second cycle). The year 2018 saw the 12 th edition of second cycle school's cultural festival which was held at Koforidua in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The year 2019 saw the 16 th edition of the basic school's cultural festival held at Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. The rationale for holding the National Cultural Festival is to inculcate into the pupils the habit of positively contributing to national development aspirations. The National Cultural Festival has two (2) main disciplines, which are performing and visual arts. Under the performing arts discipline are the performance ofchoral music, sight singing, drum language, poetry recital, dance and drama in English. The visual arts category usually takes the form of exhibitions showcasing painting, still life drawing, sewing, paper craft, and cook art. Each competing year there is a theme, compulsory song and dance that guides activities of the National Cultural Festival taking into consideration the host region. For example, Asafo and Osoode were chosen for the 16th edition of the basic schools' cultural festival held in Cape Coast in 2019. Due to the limited reviews of events of this nature, it has become imperative to take a critical look at the event as it is held in the Effutu Municipal area. The study investigates the success of the event, its strengths and challenges and finally offers suggestions for similar future events. The Effutu Municipal is one of the seven (7) Municipalities in the Central Region of Ghana, having Winneba as its capital. The Municipality has forty-two (42) government basic and Junior High Schools (Effutu Municipal Education Directorate, 2019). In the arena of ...

The education enterprise is fraught with diverse strategies for assessing learning outcomes. The diversity manifests attempts to confront the challenges that impede the achievement of objectivity, which is required to enhance the efficacy of evaluating students' learning outcomes. This struggle becomes pronounced as educators engage in the assessment of "practical" performance of art forms that demand a lot of effort to uphold objectivity and meliorate problems relating to reliability and validity that characterize subjective observations made by assessors. This study examined assessment strategies adopted by a department of performing arts with the view to increasing the degree of objectivity associated with the assessment of performing arts "practical" examination. For the study, data was collected from three judges during the end of semester examinations for the courses Ghanaian traditional dance, Dance Techniques and Introduction to Dance Cultures of the World in the 2015/2016 academic year. The results indicated that there was significant difference with an α = 0.05, F(2, 85) = 30.3, p= .001. The analysis of the inter-judge correlation yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.6. This coefficient is fairly weak considering the impact of the assessment on students' future academic development. To ameliorate the perennial problem of subjectivity in performance assessment, the portfolio assessment has been suggested as a compliment to the traditional "panel assessment" of practical performance examination taken by performing arts students of dance.

The Adventures of Sasa and Esi is a dance theatre that takes its story reference from two short Ghanaian folktale stories the Adventures of Sasa and Esi, and the Witch of the Forest which were written by Martin Otchere Owusu and directed by Johnson Kwaku Edu and Latipher Amma Osei. The production was staged at the Amu Theatre of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Education (UEW), Winneba from the 3 rd to the 6 th of November, 2016. Though the play was written for children it appeals to adults due to the lessons embedded in it. Both plays were adapted by the authors to include Ghanaian folk and popular contemporary choreographed dances and theatrical special effects make-up as key theatrical elements to drive the production and to project the element of spectacle. The style of presentation was naturalism and realism. The production also served as a learning platform for the cast and crew who were students in the Department of Theatre Arts, UEW as they participated in it. Through experimentation, experiences, and concept development, the directors' style and professional background in technical theatre and creative dance heightened the element of naturalism and realism to underscore the theme of the play, understanding, and interpretation of the play.