The Competency-Based Education (CBE) Arts and Sports Science pathway represents a deliberate shift from purely academic preparation to talent-nurturing, industry-aligned learning. Within this pathway, the Arts track, comprising Music and Dance, Fine Arts, and Theatre and Film, demands learning environments that are fundamentally different from conventional classrooms and laboratories.
For senior schools to implement this pathway with integrity, credibility, and equity, they must invest in purpose-built physical infrastructure that supports practice, performance, production, and professional exposure. Without such infrastructure, the Arts track risks becoming theoretical, tokenistic, and disconnected from real artistic careers.
Music and Dance education requires spaces designed for sound, movement, and ensemble work. Senior schools must provide acoustically treated music rooms that allow learners to practise without interference or disruption to other classes. These rooms should be soundproofed, ventilated, and large enough to accommodate instruments, vocal groups, and small ensembles. Practice cubicles are essential for individual learners studying instruments or voice, enabling focused rehearsal.
Instrument storage rooms with secure racks, humidity control, and maintenance space are equally critical, as quality instruments are both expensive and delicate. Dance studios must have sprung wooden floors to reduce injury, wall-mounted mirrors for posture and technique correction, ballet barres for foundational training, and adequate ceiling height for jumps and lifts. Changing rooms with lockers and showers are not luxuries but necessities, especially when dance is timetabled as a rigorous, examinable discipline.
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Fine Arts infrastructure must reflect the diversity of visual art practices and the emphasis on process as much as product. Senior schools should establish dedicated art studios rather than repurposed classrooms. These studios need ample natural light, adjustable artificial lighting, and wide work surfaces to accommodate drawing, painting, sculpture, and mixed media. Storage areas for works in progress, canvases, clay, and tools are vital to prevent damage and clutter. Wet areas with sinks, running water, and proper drainage are required for painting, printmaking, and ceramics.
Where possible, schools should include kilns for ceramics, drying racks, and ventilation systems to manage fumes from paints and solvents. Display galleries within the school, whether corridors, foyers, or dedicated exhibition spaces, are part of the infrastructure, allowing learners to curate, critique, and publicly present their work, a key competency in arts education.
Theatre and Film studies place even more complex demands on physical infrastructure, blending performance, technical production, and media technology. A functional theatre space or auditorium is central to this track. Such a space should include a raised stage, flexible seating, professional lighting rigs, sound systems, and backstage areas for costume changes, makeup, and storage of props. Acoustic design is essential to support unamplified speech and music. Rehearsal rooms separate from the main theatre allow for script work, blocking, and improvisation without competing for performance space. Costume and set design workshops equipped with sewing machines, workbenches, and storage for fabrics, tools, and materials enable learners to understand production as a collaborative craft, not just acting.
For the film component, senior schools must invest in media production infrastructure. This includes a basic film studio or adaptable black-box space for shooting scenes, green screens for visual effects, and controlled lighting setups. Editing suites equipped with computers capable of running professional video and audio editing software are indispensable.
Sound recording booths or treated rooms allow learners to capture clean dialogue, narration, and sound effects. Secure storage for cameras, tripods, microphones, and lighting equipment is also necessary, both for safety and asset management. Reliable power supply and high-speed internet connectivity form part of this infrastructure, as film education is inseparable from digital workflows and online distribution platforms.
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Beyond specialised rooms, the Arts track requires supportive whole-school infrastructure. Timetabling under CBE often involves extended practical sessions, which means schools need flexible learning spaces and scheduling-friendly facilities. Outdoor performance spaces or amphitheatres can complement indoor theatres, offering learners an experience with different audiences and environments. Libraries must expand beyond textbooks to include scripts, scores, recordings, art catalogues, and digital archives. Health and safety infrastructure, including first aid rooms and clear safety protocols, is essential given the physical demands of dance, set construction, and technical theatre work.
Equity considerations are central to infrastructure planning. If senior schools offering the Arts track lack appropriate facilities, learners from less-resourced schools will be disadvantaged, reinforcing the false hierarchy between academic and artistic pathways. Infrastructure should therefore be designed to national standards, with clear minimum requirements that allow any school, public or private, urban or rural, to offer credible Arts education. Partnerships with community theatres, art centres, and cultural institutions can supplement on-site facilities, but they cannot replace the need for core infrastructure within schools.
Ultimately, physical infrastructure is not an add-on to the Arts track; it is the curriculum made visible. Music, Fine Arts, and Theatre and Film are embodied, practice-driven disciplines that require space, tools, and professional environments to flourish.
If senior schools are to prepare learners for careers in the creative industries, whether as performers, designers, technicians, educators, or entrepreneurs, they must build environments that honour the seriousness of artistic work. Anything less reduces the Arts track to symbolism rather than substance, undermining the very promise of Competency-Based Education to recognise, develop, and dignify diverse talents.
By Ashford Kimani
Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.
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