Music and Dance Instruction in Basic Schools in Ghana: v

Abstract

The study investigated factors militating against the girl – child's music and dance education in basic schools in Ghana. The Population were music and dance teachers in Ghanaian pre-tertiary institutions, while purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample that covered all the 2005 of the 400 level music students of the Music Education Department of the University of Education, Winneba. The instrument was a modified Anderson's (2002) questionnaire. The data collected was analyzed using frequency counts and percentages. The findings revealed that equal opportunities were provided by the teachers studied for both the girl – child and the boy – child, based on the competencies of the teachers, to study music and dance. The study revealed further that many girl –child across the country does not participate at all or less participate in music and dance lessons, while shyness on the part of the girl- child posses a threat to girl's education in music and dance. It was however recommended that the girl – child should be counselled on the effects of shyness and how to overcome it, this it is assumed would encourage more girls to participate fully in music and dance Keywords : Problems, Music, Dance, Instruction, Basic Schools, Girl- Child, Ghana International Journal of Educational Research Vol. 3 (2) 2007 pp. 191-202