£1.1m ...to teach the world to sing? No wonder they’re laughing!
We haven’t actually got the £12 billion we give in foreign aid – we have to borrow it. And you won’t believe what we spend it on...
SINGING coaches are flying around the world at vast public expense teaching traditional British folk songs in developing countries.
Among the ballads being passed on to help promote ‘better understanding between cultures’ are Hey Ho!, Scarborough Fair and I’ll Tell Me Ma.
Last night furious critics asked how the £1.1million project called World Voice could be justified when budget cuts were being made to services in Britain.
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the amount of cash lavished on the initiative ‘beggars belief’.
‘People will be shocked that such large amounts of their hard-earned cash have been poured into this highly questionable programme. What value is it providing for British taxpayers footing the exorbitant bill? It beggars belief that Ministers can justify this spending when budgets are supposedly so tight that we were told barely a week ago that they had no option but to cut benefits for the disabled.’
Under the British Council-run scheme, ‘vocal specialists’ introduce teachers across the globe to a ‘songbook’ of 26 ballads from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Songs from Senegal, Nepal and Jordan are also included.
Among the countries involved are India, Sudan, Palestine, Nepal, Ethiopia, Jordan, Chile, Senegal, Brazil, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Columbia, and Argentina.
The two-year project cost UK taxpayers £471,598 in 2014 and £630,418 last year. The British Council says the project has reached 33,501 teachers and 1.6million children. A spokesman said it was a ‘tool for learning and to promote better understanding between cultures’.
World Voice artistic director Richard Frostick, said: ‘I have seen miracles really with teachers saying that they have never seen this particular side of their pupils before. In the medium to long term we will have hundreds of thousands – and very likely millions – of children engaged in this project.’