More schools to offer art, music programmes from next year

SINGAPORE — Students from Naval Base Secondary School may soon get the chance to go on job attachments that expose them to areas such as fashion and product design or the job of a museum curator.

These are among initiatives the school is considering as it joins the ranks of four other secondary schools to offer the Enhanced Art Programme (EAP) next year. Another two schools will offer the Enhanced Music Programme (EMP). Currently, four schools offer the EAP while two offer the EMP.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced this today (May 27), with the aim of providing secondary school students more opportunities to take up art and music as an academic subject at the O-levels.

It will also develop three schools — National Junior College, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Dunman High School — into Art Elective Programme (AEP) or Music Elective Programme (MEP) centres for students who come from schools not offering the programmes.

With the expansion, more than 2,000 students are expected to participate per year in these programmes by 2019, said the MOE. Currently, the four programmes see a combined enrolment of close to 1,500 students each year.

The EAP and EMP are upper secondary programmes that exposes students to a range of art or music practices, media and genres, with greater orientation towards applied learning within two years. Students either sit for the Art or Music or Higher Art or Music subjects at the O-levels.

AEP and MEP programmes are for express stream students. They enrol at the start of their secondary school education, and will take the Higher Art or Music exam at the O-levels. The programmes focus on in-depth and critical learning that enable students to develop and deepen conceptual understanding in these areas.

Naval Base principal Sulaiman Mohamad Yusof said through the EAP programme, the school will be able to expand its offerings for students. For example, they could reach out to organisations like the National Art Gallery to secure job stints for the students. “Being in the EAP programme allows us to do this in a more professional way and get our students to experience visual art in a much more specific way,” he said. Some of the current initiatives students are exposed to include an annual overseas trip for Secondary Three students to gain insights to a country’s art culture. Upon their return, the students are required to put together a project that captures their learning experiences such as creating a ceramic sculpture or putting together a fashion show.

Student Bazil Basyar, a Secondary Two student at the school, expressed interest in joining the EAP when it launches next year. The 14-year-old aspires to be an art teacher and hopes that the school will be able to introduce other forms of art such as sculpture to the curriculum.