SYP have today welcomed the news that the Scottish Government has committed to giving Councils an extra £7m to fund free music tuition for pupils in the coming school year. Free music tuition has been a priority for MSYPs over the past few years, including a local campaign from former MSYP, Alice Ferguson in West Lothian and Catherine Mackie MSYP and Alice giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee in November 2018. Both Catherine and Alice gave impassioned pleas to MSPs to consider free music tuition speaking from personal experience and on behalf of their constituents.
Since 2015, SYP policy has been for free music tuition to be brought in, with our policy reading: “The Scottish Youth Parliament believes that music tuition should be free to all secondary school pupils in Scotland. Local Government should strive to implement this by 2021.“
Following the work of MSYPs, and other young people across Scotland, this is a significant step forward in making music accessible to all of Scotland’s children and young people.
In reaction to the news, Catherine Mackie MSYP for Glasgow Southside said:
“I’m very excited to hear that the Scottish Government have scrapped charges for music tuition for schools.
“No young person should ever be deterred from the benefits of learning how to play a musical instrument due to worries about cost, so I’m very pleased to see music tuition fees scrapped.
“SYP campaigned hard for this, especially when Alice Ferguson MSYP and myself gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament Education and Skills Committee on why music tuition fees should be scrapped, and I’m so glad that the Scottish Government have listened. This will now give all children the invaluable chance to learn how to play an instrument without worrying about how they’ll afford it.”
