Madam, - We wish to express our condemnation of the cutbacks and subsequent rise in students' fees at the Waterford Institution of Technology School of Music. Having backed down from an earlier proposal to practically close the school, WIT has now imposed a 20 per cent increase in fees as well as a complete embargo on the enrolment of new students. Approximately 10 per cent of students leave yearly due to natural causes such as going away to college, so WIT is facing the gradual reduction of numbers and eventual closure.
WIT School of Music is one of the most important music education establishments in the area and draws students from a wide area covering several counties.
At a time when this organisation and many other interested parties are trying to promote music education for all our children this action is retrograde and disastrous. We demand that the status quo be maintained in the interest of music in Ireland and our children's right to music education. - Yours, etc.,
ARTEMIS KENT, Secretary, Irish Association of Music Schools, c/o 6 Silverpines, Bray, Co Wicklow.