Music tuition fee protest gathers momentum
THE CAMPAIGN against Shetland Islands Council’s decision to scrap free instrument tuition at the isles’ schools has gathered further momentum.
A new online petition at www.gopetition.co.uk/online/34188.html is calling for instrumental tuition in Shetland to be kept free of charge.
Started by local musician Marie Goodlad yesterday (Friday), the petition had more than 260 signatures this morning.
Meanwhile, a Facebook site at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=307887327899 which also calls on the council to revert the decision counted more than 1,000 members.
Ms Goodlad, a student teacher, said she had benefited hugely from the free instrumental tuition and described the lessons as invaluable to her career and her personal life.
The 23 year old added: “I started the petition after joining the Facebook group which informed me about the councillors’ decision.
“I’m personally shocked that the council could be considering this sort of cut. The Curriculum for Excellence puts immense value on learning through the arts, so it’s a great disappointment to see that the arts are always the first thing to be cut.
“I feel that bairns would be seriously missing out on a wonderful opportunity to add to Shetland’s cultural heritage – we are famous for our music, so it’d be a travesty to let this pass without taking action.”
Her petition reads: “We, the undersigned believe that the Shetland Islands Council is making a big mistake in introducing charges for instrumental tuition in Shetland’s schools.
We urge the council to reconsider these actions which we believe will result in less children taking advantage of this wonderful resource, and will lead to damage of Shetland’s cultural heritage.”
For years the free instrument tuition stood for the pride in the isles’ musical heritage and has produced a long list of nationally and internationally known musicians.
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Earlier this week, the council proposed to introduce an annual fee of £160 per child as part of wide ranging measures to fill a £6.7 million hole in its budget.
The measure could generate an income of £130,000, but only if all those who receive free music tuition would continue with their education.
Campaigners said such a measure would be counter productive, undermine the isles strong musical heritage and amount to a “tax on talent”.
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