Days after an instructor cancelled a 12-year-old student’s lesson at the last minute on grounds of the boy’s autism, Yamaha Contempo Music School has issued an apology for putting him and his family through the horrible experience.
The boy’s father, Ivan Lim, had taken to Facebook to recount his heartbreak after seeing his son turned away from his second flute lesson at the school in Plaza Singapura last Friday evening. You could (and should) read the whole anecdote here, but in case of TL;DR:
- Boy gets enrolled into Yamaha Contempo Music School for flute lessons.
- Boy’s grandmother informs the school that he is autistic and requires a teacher who can manage him.
- First lesson goes fine, family hears no complaints about the boy.
- Second lesson, not so. Instructor cancels the boy’s lesson 75 minutes before it’s supposed to start. Staff at school’s reception apparently tries to pin the blame on the grandmother for not picking up their call earlier that day. Angry grandparents demand that the instructor come out and face them. Instructor sheepishly makes the excuse that his wife (who’s a nurse) told him he could not teach the autistic boy any longer. Lim, who dropped by the school, is supremely baffled.
- Flute instructor’s student comes to the teacher’s defence, going aggro on the boy’s family, demanding if they are “trying to make a hassle”. Argument escalates into name-calling.
- Family leaves premises before things get violent. Dad recounts incident on Facebook on Sunday.
Speaking to The Straits Times, the school assured that it has conducted investigations and is now seeking Lim’s forgiveness over the hullaballoo.
And it’s sorry for every single thing that happened, apparently. Yamaha Contempo Music School has apologized for not exercising supervision over the teacher’s last minute lesson cancellation; for giving the unfairly short notice; for the staff member who came across as putting the blame on the grandmother; for the teacher refusing to see Lim’s family; for allowing another student to make threats against them.
“We sincerely apologise for all that we and the teacher did and all that Mr Lim and family went through,” said the school to The Straits Times. “No child, parent, or grandparent should be made to go through what happened.”
The school has also spoken to the teacher, who admitted that his behavior was unacceptable, while the staff members who were there that day also wished to sincerely apologize for their conduct. They’ve also reached out to the grandmother to offer a full refund.
A wee bit too late, really — Lim has decided that his son will have his flute lessons elsewhere.
“We thought Yamaha was a good brand,” said Lim. “But I believe this is an isolated incident. I was very unhappy with the way they managed it. I hope they will learn from this episode.”
The boy’s previous flute instructor — veteran musician and producer Zaidi Sabtu-Ramli — has also spoken out against the conduct of the Yamaha Contempo Music School teacher, expressing how he deeply affected he was by the episode.
