The review and validation program held at NAQAA office in Kanifing brought together distinguished cultural experts who had served in various positions of trust in the cultural sector.
Art Education was sponsored by ACP-EU Culture Program: Support for the Cultural and Creative Sectors in West Africa (AWA).
Among other things, the project would help the institute to start an Art Education Department at ITTOG. In partnership with Ecole National Des Arts (ENA) of Senegal, the project would develop the relevant curriculum in Level 3 Diploma in the performing arts and the second year develops Level 3 Advance Diploma course.
However, to implement the project the institute partnered with a Spanish NGO called ETHNICS.
Sheikh Tejan Nyang, head of school speaking on behalf of Adama Bah, the chairman of ITTOG’s board of directors, disclosed that the review and validation of the curriculum is a milestone in the history of the institute.
As an institution that for years specialised in travel and tourism studies, he said they have always been looking at areas that could bridge the gap between tourism, the arts and culture which includes the “teaching of our cuisine linked to an international audience or market.”
He stated that, tourism is a very competitive industry. It is therefore important for training institutions like ITTOG to look at areas that the younger generation will be trained “that make us unique as a destination.
Lamin B. Manneh, director of Quality Assurance at NAQAA praised ITTOG for a job well done, saying they have lightened the job for his authority by taking the initiative to develop the training standard for reviewing and validation to become a teaching curriculum.
After validation, he said the institute and other institutes doing similar programs but with less standard curriculum can use it.
‘NAQAA as a custodian, the authority’s materials are always used by other institutions running similar programs, especially those that are not having similar standard curricula,’ he added.
