President Dr William Ruto will host the winner of the 97 th Edition of the Music Festival at the Sagana State lodge in Nyeri, the Principal Secretary in the State Department for Basic Education, Amb. Prof Julius Bitok, has confirmed.
Speaking in Nyeri on Friday when he led Principal Secretaries Dr. Esther Muoria (Technical Vocational Education and Training) and Dr. Caroline Karugu (East Africa Community) to check on the progress of preparations in readiness for the gala, Prof Bitok confirmed that a total of 36 groups would showcase their talent before the Head of State.
“As you all know, we are celebrating the music festivals from on Saturday and therefore, as the President’s advance team, we have come to ensure that all is ready for tomorrow and we are really happy to be here to witness the best of the best teams perform,” stated Prof Bitok.
The gala will mark the end of this year’s festival, which has been taking place in Meru County for the last two weeks. The winners, together with their counterparts who won this year’s Drama and Theatre festivals, will proceed to Uganda for the East Africa Music, Dance and Drama Festivals, which will culminate on August 25.
Prof. Bitok noted that the festivals had created a sound ground for talents to be identified and nurtured at all levels of education, cutting across all four levels of education in line with the Competency-Based Curriculum.
He said that in addition to participating in the regional festivals, the government is also keen on encouraging the learners to enter their performance into international competitions.
“As we all know, CBC focuses more on competencies, skills, talents, creativity and innovation, and that is where we are even as we bring music festival finals to Nyeri County. We have seen a lot of talent being displayed by our children. We have seen a lot of our children trying to be very creative and be very innovative with their talents,” he stated.
“As our children display their talent, our plan is to take these competitions to an international level. We want to take them to other countries so that we can be able to give them an opportunity to be able to become the best in the talent they have,” added Prof. Bitok.
His TVETs’ counterpart Dr. Muoria said that the government would continue to support the furtherance of youth talents and skills in the country.
She also cautioned the youth against abandoning their talents, adding that the job market was now focused on practical skills as opposed to theoretical knowhow.
“We want to tell our youth that in the Ministry of Education, we have made everything possible for them to be able to express themselves, to be able to learn because we have said as government, learning is not about going to class memorizing theories, reproducing them in examination. But it is about putting the best foot forward so that if you are very good in music, why not take a career in music and excel in it” she stated.
Dr. Karugu said that the gala would not only provide an opportunity for the young people to express themselves but would also offer another opportunity for the country to celebrate its cultural diversity through music.
“As you all know, music in this country has contributed as a unifying factor. It has been the way we express ourselves when we are happy and when we are disgruntled. So if our children excel in music, then it is a big thing to celebrate. We are happy to be able to celebrate our children as they show us what they have in terms of music and we want to wish the best to the school that will win and even those that won’t win; they are still our children, we love them, we appreciate their talents and we wish them the very best,” stated the EAC PS.
By Wangari Mwangi
