DAVID KWAKU BESAH

ABSTRACT Before the introduction of the Music and Dance programme into the basic schools in Ghana in 1998, Music education had over the years been part of the Cultural Studies programme and had existed as a course of study in the then Secondary Schools with well defined objectives of producing a well balanced individual in the society. Music education nowadays has not been attractive to students nor to the teachers who teach it. The occasional changes which are meant to serve as corrective measures in the educational system spark off certain administrative challenges in the areas of material, human and financial resources. The study sought to find out the specific issues that gave rise to the low interest shown by students, teachers and administrators towards Music education. Data was collected from 116 respondents drawn from seven sampled schools in the Cape Coast and Winneba municipalities of the Central Region of Ghana. Three sets of questionnaires and an interview guide were used in collecting data for the study. The main findings of the study were that some of the policies instituted by the policy makers, for instance, the status of the third rated subjects on the school curriculum which are also the non examinable subjects have worked negatively against music education. The Study Leave policy with the quota string was another hitch to music studies. It was also realized that most heads of schools offering music have not fully capitalized on the idea of orientation to encourage music learning in their schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the Ghana Education Service (GES), the GET fund and the Government of Ghana should set up a special fund to acquire materials and instruments for music learning in schools and to create the avenue to train more personnel at the various levels to teach the subject.