Pianos in Board Schools.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 6258, 3 July 1890, Page 3

Pianos in Board Schools.

Those critics of the School Board who hold that the curriculum should not go beyond the three U/e, and who would like to throw down the ■ ladder Professor Huxley once spoke of from the gutter to the university, will gasp for breath, says a London journal, when they hear of the latest improvements to be introduced by the London School Board. The schools, or at least those in the poorer districts, are to have pianos provided for them at the public expense. These instruments are necessary to the efficiency of the musical drill and kindergarten which arc now part of the school work ; but Mrs. Besant boldly assigned another reason; they are also wanted, she said, for entertainments at the schools. Every one who has true pity for the cheerlessness of the lives of the children of the slums will sympathise with Mrs. Besant in her contention that it is because the children are poor that they want a piano at school, the rich having pianos in their own homes. The Board decided to introduce pianos to schools “at which ■ they might be beneficial,” and the School Management Committee was invited to report upon the'numberof instruments needed and their probable cost. A Member said if they were going to give them good instruments they would cost £9O each.