Parents at Glasgow’s Gaelic primaries have hit out after the council axed a two-decade-old arrangement which saw private music tutors teaching children during the school day.
Despite being in place for 20 years, education bosses said they only learned of the "highly irregular" situation recently and had no choice but to bring it to an end.
That's left parents furious. They fear it could mean their children losing out on learning an instrument.
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At a meeting on Thursday night, representatives from the council were adamant that private tuition should only take place outwith the school day.
One mum told The Herald: “Glasgow Gaelic schools have successfully run a music tuition programme for 20 years where parents pay privately for lessons during the school day.
“Tutors are required to have a PVG certificate and this is arranged through Glasgow City Council.
“The Council now say that this goes against policy and has demanded a stop to lessons in six months.
“At a meeting on January 18, representatives from the council stated that they will fund one instrument for pupils in high school who are seeking an SQA qualification but there is no provision for individual lessons for primary pupils during the school day.
“This music programme comes at no cost to the council, it’s funded entirely by parents so we are deeply concerned that Glasgow City Council is refusing to consider a continuation of this successful initiative that is key for engaging Gaelic medium education pupils in music.
“Parents would encourage and welcome Glasgow City Council to look at this further.”
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The Council flatly denied that they were responsible for securing PVG certificates for the tutors.
An authority spokeswoman said: “Families who want to pay for extracurricular, private tuition for their child can do this outwith the school day.
“We only found out recently about this highly irregular arrangement in our GME schools where private tutors are delivering music lessons paid for by parents during the school day.
“Music and instrument tuition is free to our children and young people, and we offer a very successful CREATE programme across all our schools in the city.
“We will continue to offer these free opportunities in GME schools.”
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