A+ A A- Early school, later crisis... What parents must know before enrolling their kids

Enrolling children in school at the tender age of one or two years has become a common practice in Nigeria and some other countries. SADE OGUNTOLA and KEHINDE OYETIMI report experts’ concerns, the attraction for this practice, its effects and the ideal age parents should make their children to begin formal education.

WHEN Cynthia was born, she looked plump and playful. As a baby, she was gifted with such superabundant energy that she would stab the air relentlessly with her tiny hands. Her chubby cheeks and her comely dimples were the enchantment of her parents’ guests. She had a sunny smile and an alluring appeal. Many would carry her at the slightest opportunity. She never lacked friends who delighted in playing with her.

Her parents watched as she developed a strong cognitive mind, taking in what she saw with quick, reflective understanding. As a toddler, she appeared much too attentive for a child her age. She was as considerate as she was considerable. She was no younger than a year when she fancied picking up objects with sharp ends and would begin to scribble on hard surfaces. With a suppressed grin, Cynthia’s mother, would watch her baby’s face cake into that of a serious academic as she incomprehensibly made impressions on surfaces. Her mother provided her with large sheets of paper and a marker. Her mother was further amazed when she would gently guide Cynthia’s little fingers with a pencil in writing without Cynthia putting up any resistance. She told her husband of the incredible discovery that she made.

Cynthia became the toast of many relatives and her parents never hesitated in showing off their baby’s early obsession with scribbling. “Sweetheart, Cynthia will soon be a year and two months. She is showing such uncommon skill at learning. I believe the earlier we got her in school, the better,” her mother said. “I strongly agree,” her father replied with a resolution strongly spread across her face. But Cynthia’s uncle, who sat at lunch with the family, disagreed, insisting that such step would stunt Cynthia’s emotional development. Her parents jointly maintained silence but there was a conniving agreement to carry on with their decision.

Cynthia started school quite early. She barely was eight when she was through with her primary education. Her academic feats were stunning. She enjoyed double promotions. By the time she was 14, she had finished her secondary education, with excellent grades in her West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Her university matriculation examination was a work over. She gained admission to two prestigious universities where she could either study engineering or medicine. She opted for engineering, being a field with a dwarfed female presence. Cynthia graduated with a first class degree by the time she was 20, finished her mandatory one-year national youth service, and was employed by one of the leading construction companies. She was married at 21.

As impressively phenomenal as her educational records were, Cynthia had begun to have emotional crises at a later stage of her life—finding it difficult to cope with marital obligations. Her parents had waved it, believing that she would outgrow it. At her place of work, she was quite cerebral but she couldn’t have a firm grip on her emotional outbursts. She flew into fits; she got angry without provocation. She had once complained to a colleague that she had no childhood...having been snatched from her by early education. She complained that her early cognitive development was her undoing, since she had to maintain her academic prowess which was the only source of keeping her parents’ affection.

Early education as a big issue
The issue of when a child should begin formal education has generated much discourse globally. Early education for children is one of the ripple effects that came with the dawn of modernity’s age. In all countries, education curriculums are designed in such ways so as to incorporate the young, toddler minds of children. In the United Kingdom, early education for children has created so much concern that an influential body of about 130 experts which comprised academics, teachers, authors and charity leaders recently made a call for fundamental reassessments of the policies on early child education in Britain. The experts had warned, according to a report by the Telegraph that formal schooling should be delayed till the age of six or seven or the effects would be disastrous.

The attraction
In Nigeria, the culture of early child formal learning has found its way into nurseries. Parents argue that the earlier a child starts schooling, the better for his/her overall development. Children, who can barely walk, are whisked to schools and made to recite letters of the alphabets and get familiarised with the numeric system. They are made to stare long hours at television programmes aimed at facilitating their formal learning. Parents quickly hand over their parts to teachers in the collaborative coaching venture of their children. Crèches and day-care centres have been transformed into serious learning facilities for very young children.

For Mrs Ronke Adeoti, “We had no choice but to quickly enrol these children. Their learning abilities and their powers of retention are unlike our own. So the best thing to do is too put them in school early. How can I wait to put my child in school when he is six or seven? That will be too late.”

Mr Frank Edet shared same opinion with Adeoti when he told Sunday Tribune that “our generation when we were growing is different from that of these children. You will be surprised at the kind of these things that they know. We are forced to put them into school by the realities on ground. People will assume that you are poor when they notice that your child is still at home at age two.”

Mrs Grace Nwachukwu had a different thought. “As good as it seems to put these children in school at an early age, there are many issues at stake. For instance, some of these children begin life too early. A child has graduated from the university at the age of 19. That child gets a master’s degree at 21 and gets married at 22. Many of them are getting married earlier than that. There is a high rate of divorce because many of these children are malformed,” she said.

A lecturer at the University of Lagos, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, argued that it had gradually become difficult to teach these children character wise. “Many of the candidates that are admitted to our universities today are children. Some of them are as young as 14. For God’s sake, they are just too young. The government-owned universities are placing age-restrictions but the private universities are not doing so.

“In fact in many cases, we have problems shaping these children morally. They are academically sound but morally bankrupt. It is sad. We do understand that they are pushed to start early by their parents.”

Funso Ajibade, a graduate, told Sunday Tribune why she decided to refuse her parents’ pressure to go for postgraduate studies. “At age seven, I was writing common entrance into a secondary school. After that, a model school complained that I was too young to start secondary education. I had about two double promotions in primary school.

“My parents made sure I finished my secondary education by 14. At 15, I had gained admission to the university. At 19, I was through. At 20, I had finished my NYSC. My parents wanted me to proceed to postgraduate studies but I refused. Is it a crime to be intelligent?” she queried.

Formal education should begin at age 5—Expert
Indeed, psychologists are beginning to raise the alarm about the danger of early child education, noting that it is becoming a link to mental and psychological imbalance in adulthood.

Dr Alex Oyinlade, a consultant paediatric neurologist, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said the ideal time for commencement depends on the child in question.

“It is better to take every child individually. Children develop at different rates. Also cognitive development differs from one child to another,” he said.

Dr Oyinlade, who stated that rapid development and westernisation accounts for why many parents enrol their children too early in school, said it was better to allow a child to achieve some cognitive development before such starts a formal school.

“Where a child passes though a lot of stressors in this developmental stage of life, over time the effect can precipitate mental problems. Mental problems arise from a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors.  Over time, in those with genetic predisposition, this could affect such children mentally,” he said.

Dr David Fakeye, senior lecturer, Department of Teacher Education, University of Ibadan, stated that children should not be allowed to start school earlier than age five.

According to him, “a major principle of learning is maturation. A child must be matured mentally and emotionally so as to be able to cope with academic work in school.

“What we are saying is that if they can delay the starting point of primary education such that children will spend more time at home, learn more of informal education and get used to cultural upbringing, they will be able to cope and will continue to do well. It is not how early they start school but how well they are able to master what they are exposed to in school.”