APRIL CRONIN,
Madam, - As a parent, and as the principal teacher of a city national school, I am seriously concerned about the proposed cuts in the "part-time" element of the DIT College of Music.
Most of the part-time students are children learning an instrument, many of whom will go on to become the music teachers and orchestral players of tomorrow. The college is, as far as I am aware, the only State-subsidised establishment in Dublin dedicated to music education - an area of our education system that is already grossly under-resourced. It has provided thousands of children with the opportunity to develop their talents at an affordable fee.
There are now plans to double the fees and demand payment five months in advance; this will put the college's services beyond the reach of families with modest incomes, and possibly cause the cessation of some children's training.
Many arts and education organisations are currently coming to terms with Government-imposed cuts but the DIT's approach seems lop-sided. To cut the numbers of students from 1,400 to 800 in one academic year is surely unnecessary. How much are other areas of the DIT going to suffer? Have these decisions anything to do with the DIT's oft-trumpeted desire to be a university? Are six-year-olds toting violins an embarrassment to these ambitions? The DIT should remember it is the custodian of a precious tradition handed on intact by the VEC only a few years ago.
Anyone with an interest in the future of music in Ireland should make their voices heard in this matter. Otherwise we are looking at a slow "death of a thousand cuts" for one of Dublin's great institutions and the withering of the ideal of music education for all. - Yours, etc.,
APRIL CRONIN, Arnott Street, Dublin 8.