Let The Children Play: MSPs back music tuition campaign

MORE than 20 MSPs have signed a parliamentary motion supporting Scotland on Sunday’s campaign to end tuition fees for music lessons in schools.

The motion, laid down by East Lothian MSP Iain Gray, has attracted cross-party support and “commends” the local authorities that have resisted making charges for lessons despite the economic downturn and the squeeze on budgets.

It was submitted after it emerged that 24 of Scotland’s 32 councils were charging
parents up to £340 a year for their children to take music
tuition in state schools and that children taking music exams as part of their courses were having to pay.

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Gray said one of the major concerns of MSPs was that children from low-income areas were being denied the opportunity to take music lessons because their parents could not afford it.

“At the heart of this is that Labour introduced a youth music initiative in primary schools which the SNP government has carried on,” he said.

“But when many children are getting to secondary school, their parents are just deciding they cannot afford it.”

The motion asks the Scottish Parliament to recognise the key role that music can play in children’s academic and social development. It welcomes Scotland on Sunday’s Let The Children Play campaign and says that every child in Scotland should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. It adds that MSPs share the concern of the Educational Institute for Scotland that music tuition charges may deny children from poorer backgrounds the chance to develop their musical talents, and commends the eight local authorities in Scotland that make no charge for instrumental music tuition in schools.

The motion has been signed by MSPs James Kelly, Neil Findlay, Malcolm Chisholm, Helen Eadie, Hanzala Malik, Patricia Ferguson, Kenneth Gibson, Elaine Smith, Michael McMahon, Drew Smith, Richard Simpson, Mike MacKenzie, John Park, Anne McTaggart, Liam McArthur, Christine Grahame, Jackie Baillie, Jamie Hepburn, Sarah Boyack, Rhoda Grant, Elaine Murray, and Alison Johnstone.

Gray said: “The amount of money required for free
lessons is not a huge sum, and if we can support elite athletes then we should be able to put some funding into areas like this.”