THE RELEVANCE OF TEACHING DRAMA IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS, USING TUNDE P. OSIPEJU’S THE GODLY AND THE UNGODLY (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
ABSTRACT
Drama has an important role to play in the personal development of our students. The skills and qualities developed by our students include teamwork, creativity, leadership and risk taking. Drama also stimulates the imagination and allows students to explore issues and experiences in a safe and supportive environment. This project will focus on the relevance of teaching drama in Junior Secondary Schools with reference to Tunde P. Osipeju’s THE GODLY AND THE UNGODLY. In Nigerian schools, most principals and teachers see drama as an ordinary entertainment and waste of time, with this not making it a necessary subject to be taught in schools. They forget that drama is concerned with action, doing and seeing while teaching is nothing if not a process of action and communication. Also drama has positive impacts in the lives of students through the moral lessons taught. It is on this foreground that this research is set out on the relevance of teaching drama texts in Junior Secondary Schools by using The Godly and the Ungodly by Tunde P. Osipeju as a case study, it is therefore submitted that Drama should be taught in all Junior Secondary Schools for it to play a positive role in the lives of students.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Drama plays a very fundamental and significant role in the lives of students not only because it helps them to understand the world they live in but also to know how to adapt to the society they live in. It also helps them gain understanding in facilitating social integration through group interaction and effective communication. The curricular status of drama has been the subject of serious controversy ever since it made its incursion into formal education. Drama has always been seen as a mode of communication and a method of teaching other subjects, but not as a subject worth serious academic attention in its own right. (Umukoro, M.M. 2002, Drama and Theatre in Nigerian schools, chapter 1, pg 26-27, lines 3-6). This position obviously stems form a combination of prejudice and ignorance. “What is there to teach or learn about drama anyway, other than acting and dancing on the board” is the belief of most people. They do not understand that teaching and learning goes beyond just acting and dancing alone, it has its unique qualities that even set it apart from other literary genres of prose and poetry. Drama remains the strongest ally of education in the attainment of mutual objectives because it has its vital relevance in the lives of students by being a part of the human life and a medium of natural development. (Umukoro, M.M.2002, Drama and Theatre in Nigerian schools, chapter 1, pg 16, lines 16-17). Drama is concerned with action, doing and seeing and teaching is nothing but a process of action and communication.
