A year ago, a shock wave swept through the country's cultural schools when the National Agency for Education threatened Gislaved's municipality with a fine of half a million kronor for letting students receive instrument teaching during school hours - thus letting students leave a lesson to practice with a music teacher, an average of 20 minutes per week.

The event in Gislaved was a deterrent example and in order not to experience the same thing, cultural schools throughout Sweden have since made sure to put the teaching outside school hours.

This has led to students living far from the school being forced to quit and difficult working hours making teachers apply for other professions.

In Gislaved, 59 students and three orchestras have so far had to give up their activities due to the schedule changes, and the same tendency can be seen in sparsely populated municipalities throughout Sweden.

- This will be a problem for children from sparsely populated areas where there is only one bus a day back and forth to school.

We have seen this effect throughout Norrland, says Åsa Lundmark, cultural coordinator in Norrbotten County.

Open letter

Åsa Lundmark and cultural school leaders in the counties of Norrbotten, Västerbotten and Västernorrland, among others, write in an open letter to the government that they demand conditions for a living cultural school - even in sparsely populated areas.

Because as the situation looks now, the cooperation between school and cultural school is dependent on individuals choosing to prioritize the activities, shows a new report from the Swedish Arts Council.

- We think that national responsibility should be taken, says Åsa Lundmark.

The signatories of the open letter propose that the government amend the regulation letter to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate, alternatively implement a change in the law and include the cultural school as a separate chapter in the Education Act.

The Minister of Education answers

Minister of Education Anna Ekström responds in a written comment to Kulturnyheterna:

“The cultural school is important and therefore the government has made major investments in it.

I therefore expect that locally it is ensured that the students can both get the teaching time they should get in each school subject and can participate in the cultural school's activities, preferably within the framework of the school day or in close connection with it. ”