Early Start Of Education: Danger On Kids

Academic session for Primary (Basic) and Secondary schools has just begun and a lot of things give worries to schools, parents and guardians concerning their care.

The worries  about the way parents are sending their kids to school earlier than it was many years ago.

The issue of some parents keeping their children especially the kindergarten class, later than it should be, for minders and school operators. Situation where kids who should ordinarily have closed at 1.00pm are kept in school till 4.00 to 5pm, because the parent is either at work or engaged in a business.

 A situation where children of six and nine months are sent to creche and day care centres all in the name of starting them early.

Although some parents whose schedules are tight say they have no choice than to do that since getting a house help or nanny has a lot of implications for the child and the family.

But aside that, some people feel that the benefit of sending their children to school so early will help them secure job early  thereby starting life early.

So many years ago, children of school age were not allowed to start school until their hands could cross from one part of their ear to another. That was the yardstick used to ascertain whether a pupil could start school or not.

It is important that our wards acquire education early but their lives should not be put on danger because parents want them to finish school early.

The truth is that parents are pushing their children into school these days as if there is competition among families and friends. This is not healthy enough for our young ones.

I don’t understand why a child of 12 years should be in Senior Secondary School (SS2). It means that the child will be and graduate at age 13 or 14 in SSS3.  This should be discouraged by school managers. Which university will admit a student of 14 or 15 when universities insist they must be 16 years-old before being admitted. I’ve seen a child who performed well both in SSCE and UTME but was denied admission  by one of the  universities because he was below 16 years.

In fact, the stakeholders have come up with the issue well clarified that, students seeking admission into the universities must be 16 years of age. That’s a welcome development.

Maturity is one of the factors affecting teaching and learning process. Parents should not send their children to school earlier than it should be.

No matter how intelligent a child is, he should not be allowed to jump any class.  School managers should resist parents who may want their children to jump from one class to another without normal age requirement.

Even if a child scores rxcellent in all subjects in a particular class, that child should be allowed to touch all the classes, complete primary 6 of lower basic.  That will make a significant impact on that child.

Many of us year back started secondary school at the age of 12 and 13 and never lost anything, as we graduated at 17, 18 and 19 before seeking admission into the university.

Back in secondary school, some students were already 20 years and never bordered being in the same class with younger persons.

There are children who are exceptionally good but that does not mean a child should be sent to school prematurely. That child may suffer inferiority complex in the midst of seniors. Children should be allowed to move with their peers. This will give them a sense of belonging among peers.  When a child begins to nurse the problem of inferiority complex, he will certainly experience withdrawal syndrome. Peer group pressure becomes a problem on the child.

Those are some of the challenges resulting from keeping younger persons among the older ones. We are not in danger so we should not put our children into such uncomfortable scenario.

Nowadays, children are getting into school at tender age as parents dictate. There are things children are supposed to learn as kids at a particular level and when they jump such level and get to a point where parents want them to be, one day, those children will definitely feel it and the significant of that particular level that was ommitted will manifest.

Children should be allowed to enjoy whatever thing they are meant to enjoy at every level. No level of a child’s development should be ignored. Every stage of development is important no matter how intelligent that child may be.

Stakeholders know why every curriculum is prepared in a way to sooth every child so parents should allow children to enjoy every stage in their lives.

A teacher once told me that children below 10 years who find themselves in  secondary schools do not concentrate in school.  That she said posses a problem to the tutor. They find it difficult to concentrate no matter what the teacher does.

Parents deny their kids parental care.  Sometimes in schools, parents abandon their wards at the mercy of minders after school hours, up to 6:00 p. m.  Whereas they should have gone home earlier to prepare for the next day.

A sick child should not be dumped for any school manager with a flemxy excuse of nobody to care of that child at home. A mother should go to work or her business when that is not feeling strong.

Even at home, they are left in the hands of house helps and nannies while parents are busy looking for money.  Children are denied parental care and are not getting full maturity because of these factors.

Another reason for this rush by parents is pride.  A parent may be boasting that his child is either in ABC school and representing the whole world while another person’s child is at home or one “inferior” school.

Children who are pushed into school prematurely do not sustain it most times.  Students of 15 and 16 years-old going into university can suffer depression according to research. Researches have also shown that they (younger) ones risk the problem of mental health more than the older classmates.

In the case of creche and day care centres, the idea is not really to acquire education yet, some parents decide to keep their babies so that they can go about their daily businesses.  It is true they need money to cater for their households, but should avoid that tender age, the best training any child can have is from parents, while teachers and caregivers are secondary.

Teaching and learning process begin with the parents.  No matter how tight the parents’ schedules may be, they must take care of their kids. Parents must devote time to nurture and teach their children many things that they cannot learn in classroom.  They should not rush them through life all in a bid to acquire education early.

It is worrisome that parents rush their children to school while they cannot speak and understand their languages and dialects.

One of the guidelines in the National Policy in Education is that children should be taught in their mother tongue at home while they learn foreign language in school.

The NPE  also stipulates that every child at the basic level should be taught the language of the place of residence. If school managers are not obeying the instruction, parents need to do a follow-up.

Parents rush their children to school while they do not understand their environment, culture and tradition of theirs and others.

Although a few schools devote little time to mark cultural day for the kids. It is good that children start school early and graduate at 20, 21 and may be get a job at 23 and 24 as some employers will indicate.

Recently, organisations were inviting graduates of between 23 and 25 years for job offers. This caused a lot of reactions from the public. The question people asked was about when the children started school and National Youth Corps Service (NYSC), to seek for job in the labour market.

There was a period students secured admission between 22 and 23 years as a result of either delay in obtaining credits in their choice of disciplines and high scores in UTME.

 They still graduated at 27 and 28 before proceeding for NYSC. I think this is one of the reasons why many decide to start their children early to scale through those external examinations early enough.

When parents start their children early, they may be exposed to emotional and psychological problems in schools. A lot of them make more friends for protection as they are easily apprehensive.

The morals they needed to learn at home would have been denied them. At the end of the day, they may acquire good education but lack morals.

The family is the first school for the child but because parents are engaged, the creche and day care centres become their option.

Early start for the children affects their productivity.  Stakeholders in education and Government, homes, society school operators need to do a review and a follow-up on ages of children that should be admitted into a particular class.

Charity, they say, begins at home.  Parents must have a balance.  It is a known fact  that parents need to work to provide money for the family but must make out time to take care of their children.

By; Eunice Choko-Kayode