NI children deserve free music lessons

I WAS privileged to attend a concert on Saturday evening given by the excellent City of Belfast Youth Orchestra in the Ulster Hall.

What a delight, Belfast young people working together to create beautiful music — and to such a high standard, in front of a big Belfast audience.

Speaking with parents and teachers after the concert, I was struck by the sacrifices that many parents have to make in order to afford music lessons for their children.

You can play if you can pay.

What about the children and young people whose parents can’t pay? Do they just get excluded?

In the London borough of Newham, every child of primary school age is offered a free musical instrument and taught how to play and read music in weekly lessons. Why not in Belfast?

I see that there is a current appeal addressed to the governments “in Westminster, Edinburgh and Cardiff” to adopt such a scheme across the UK.

Why not the government in Belfast? Or should I not ask?

Could the Belfast Telegraph spearhead such a scheme in Northern Ireland in the hope that children who learn to make music together as an essential part of their education can enjoy working together as they grow into adulthood?

ROBIN HEWITT Belfast