Teachers to protest against Fife music cuts
A large turnout is expected when Scotland's largest teaching union holds a rally against cuts to education in Fife on Saturday.
- By Craig Smith
- Published in the Courier : 15.06.10
- Published online : 15.06.10 @ 05.32pm
The EIS said yesterday that the primary focus of the rally in Glenrothes will be to show solidarity with members in Fife's music service which, it believes, is facing the worst of the cuts proposed in the region's schools.
The union has been vociferous about the proposed efficiency savings being made in Fife's instrumental music service, with Fife Council pursuing plans to slash the budget for music tuition by 25% from August and a further 25% from next April.
While the local authority has stressed that it will do all it can to protect as much of the service as possible and is still investing £1.2 million in music tuition, the EIS claims that councils who sacrifice music tuition in search of savings would see pupils growing up without crucial skills and deprive them of confidence-building activities.
The union, which has been campaigning against the cuts announced in February's budget, also said it expects cuts to come in February 2011 to be even more swingeing.
EIS spokesman David Farmer encouraged everyone who is opposed to cuts in education to attend the rally, which is sure to attract a great deal of interest from various quarters.
"We call on the people of Fife, whose recognition of and commitment to education we applaud, to join us in supporting teachers of instrumental music and all teachers and staff in the education service," he said.
"We hope to see all of you on Saturday supporting us in opposing the cuts."
As well as the cuts to music tuition, the EIS has concerns about various other issues including the moves towards an average class size of 25 for S1-S2 English and maths instead of the current 20, and the introduction of term-time contracts for secondary support staff instead of 52-week contracts.
The rally will convene in the Rothes Halls at 10.15am and the keynote speaker will be EIS national president Kay Barnett, along with local speakers.
Thousands of people turned up to the union's last high-profile rally in Glasgow which was part of the Why Must Our Children Pay? campaign.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Mourner.
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