Cutbacks force school to turn away children

MUSIC lovers as young as four years of age are to be turned away from one of the country’s top music schools because of cutbacks.

Waterford Institute of Technology announced yesterday that it has been forced to cut teaching hours and pupil numbers at the city’s School of Music at College Street. It blamed “resource constraints” for the cut, adding it much regretted the move.

For years now, children from primary and secondary schools throughout Waterford have been flocking to the centre. But because of the cuts, teaching hours and staff numbers have been reduced.

Even pupils who are registered with the school will be affected as numbers and classes are cut back. And not all prospective students will be offered places when the revised tuition schedule is finalised, the college confirmed.

A spokesperson for the institute said it was regrettable that they could not continue to offer so extensive a provision of music tuition at pre-third level. “The provision of what is often one-to-one music tuition has major cost implications and tuition fees are not nearly adequate to meet the costs of salaries for the lecturers involved. On an institute-wide level, we are charged with managing a limited budget.

“The institute - which has a proud tradition in this area - will continue to develop music programmes in higher education with these courses forming a unique, distinctive and valued feature of the institute’s portfolio.

“They prove attractive to incoming third-level students and the associated public activities of the music department within our school of humanities will continue to enrich the south-east’s cultural life.”

The spokesperson also noted that a review of music education for young people that was promised at national level in 1998 was never advanced despite extensive efforts by the institute to pursue this.

“We remain open to constructive discussions with the affected staff and parents and/or their representatives.”