UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin urges the Government to take willingly action to help music students who are pursuing music education. Apparently, the future of the students of music education is badly affected by Covid-19.
Students have rejoined the schools after a year of disruption on Monday. It has massively hit the education of thousands of young pupils.
Due to the several major lockdowns in the country, the flow of music education was hampered and tons of thousands of pupils have to start from square one to continue the educational process. During the lockdowns, every school was closed and the students of music education could not have music lessons online the whole time.
Njoku-Goodwin is now calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to contribute in their 2019 manifesto pledge to spend £109 million a year on an Arts Premium for secondary school pupils by September 2021. This will help to gain stability in music education in secondary schools.
He insisted the Government on putting music education “front and center” so that the talented young people of the UK can get some support to shine in the world that’s still recovering from the pandemic shock. If music education gets more attention from the Government, it can be a promising way to revamp the mental wellbeing of the youth besides thousands of other pupils.
In December, education watchdog Ofsted revealed a shocking fact about primary schools. He cleared the air of doubt by proving the heart-wrenching data that most primary schools have stopped providing for music education and suspended any online lessons to students.
Njoku-Goodwin said that the students can only resume their music education at full throttle when the fund for the Arts Premium will be delivered by the end of this year as it was promised. That’s a lot of money sufficient enough to provide for highly regarded arts programs and extra-curricular activities for the students of music education. With the support from the fund, the teachers can organize creative and arresting lessons and programs for their students. The fund will be transferred to art organizations for noticeable developments.
He also reminded Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to release his promised National Plan for Music Education so that more kids are pumped up to take music education in schools and nurture the potential that can bring a bright future in the music industry.
He talked about the devastating effects of Covid-19 on the pupils. Children lost the psychological milieu to learn music because no online classes were offered to them for a long period till the schools re-opened again on Monday after a year.
“It’s vital that all children have a good musical education – not just because of the positive benefits on other subjects, or the important mental health and wellbeing impacts, but because the UK’s world-leading music industry relies on a strong talent pipeline. That pipeline has been badly damaged over the past year, and so it’s imperative we now do what we can to protect and strengthen it,” he said.
“The UK music industry is a key national asset that generates billions for the economy every year and boosts our global reputation. It relies on nurturing emerging talent – so strengthening that crucial talent pipeline is undoubtedly in our national interest,” while he urges for the Government’s support for an Arts Premium.