By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK A total of 30 teachers from all nine educational regions of the country are currently attending an intensive two-week arts and culture teaching methodology workshop in the capital. This was announced yesterday by the Secretary-General of the Oruuano Artists Union, Vincent Mwemba. The workshop, which is the second phase of a three-year diploma course in the teaching of arts and culture in Namibian schools, is funded by the Finnish embassy in Windhoek and the Ministry of Education. “This is the second phase of our programme, ‘Teach the Teachers’, on how to practically implement the government’s existing arts curriculum that was developed by NIED. My union and NIED have mutually agreed that a diploma will be issued at the end of the course,” said Mwemba, who is also the chairperson of the Namibian Arts Council. The main aim of the arts and culture teaching project is to assist the Ministry of Education in the implementation of its arts and culture curriculum in schools. “Arts and culture had been neglected for a long time due to the fact that the ministry had no professional and qualified arts teachers. This is one of the most important phases of the course, empowering teachers with the necessary skills, advanced techniques and methodology on how to practically teach arts in schools,” he said of the workshop, which is taking place at the Tabitha Multi-Purpose Centre in Khomasdal. According to Mwemba, the selected workshop participants for this pilot project are people with a real interest in teaching arts. “Facilitators of the workshop include qualified lecturers from the College of the Arts and two arts teaching specialists from Finland. The workshop ends on Friday and will be officially closed by the Minister of Education, Nangolo Mbumba,” the Secretary-General of Oruuano said. The union later last year also signed an important three-year bilateral agreement with its Finnish counterpart to help promote the teaching of arts and culture through exchange programmes between Namibia and Finland.