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| Early schooling robs children of joy teaching & Learning Oct 20, 09 |
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CHENNAI: To be a child is to stand with curious eyes and stare at the mystery before oneself. It is when ‘skills’ such as walking, talking and climbing trees are learnt and remembered for a lifetime. It is part of the wonder years of one’s life.
But with the advent of competition and family environments where both parents are working, these skills are increasingly learnt within classrooms.
The changing landscape of early-phase schooling has been a point of debate for some time and a comprehensive review of primary education in England for 40 years has reopened issues surrounding the right age for a child to start schooling.
The 608-page Cambridge University study says introducing children at the age of five into the constraints and discipline of a classroom – a throwback to Victorian days – provided little benefit and could even be harmful.
“Tamil Nadu is the only State where a child is allowed to enrol in class I if he is 4 years and 10 months old”, says Balaji Sampath, an Ashoka award winner for contributions to the field of education. “This happens nowhere else in the world. At that age children in schools are forced to learn something which they are not ready for.”
“Schooling is not the problem, but what they do at school matters. There has to be more focus on pre-primary education and we have to reconfigure milestones that we set for children,” he adds.
Sumitra M. Gautama, teacher at The School, says that while a primary education system which focusses on nutritional needs and providing a play environment for kids who are 5 to 6 years old is welcome; classroom education can be detrimental for the development of the child.
“Private schools have a lot to learn from the State board in this regard. The State system of anganwadis and primary schooling is much more humane,” she says. “It is ironic that the more affluent you are, the greater the chances of you putting your child through a competitive education system at a very young age.”
The widely accepted norm of sending children to school at 5 is a colonial hangover. It was left behind by the British education system. Many Commonwealth countries have a similar norm.
Interestingly England’s tradition of starting school at five originated from the requirements of Victorian factory owners in the 1870 Elementary Education Act.
“Five was picked not for education or child-development reasons, but in an attempt to service the demands of industry,” the Cambridge study says. “Clearly the earlier children started, the sooner they would finish.”
According to Lakshmi Vijayakumar, a child psychiatrist, even if children are sent to school they have to gain a variety of learning experiences till they are 8 or 9. They have to touch and feel instead of reading textbooks because it is the age in which their sensory and motor systems are developing. What some children do at age 5 in class I is disturbing. Learning has to be made fun at a young age,” she says.
source : The Hindu
21/10/09
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