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From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has expressed displeasure over the current trend of parents and teachers rushing children through academic processes.
Adamu, at a stakeholders town hall meeting, on the hurried child project, held in Abuja, on Thursday, by a non-governmental organization,’ A Mother’s Love Initiative’ lamented that most children have ended up with adults related health challenges due to over stress.
The Minister who spoke through Adekola Ben, Deputy Director, Senior Secondary Education Department stressed that the hurried child project has affected the children’s academic achievements.
He further added that the rush phenomenon has remained due to the weak regulatory enforcement of the National Policy on Education as well as the lack of sensitization on the negative impact on children.
“Rushing children to be wonder-kids even before they can walk can cause undue stress with its attendant devastating effects. Since rushed children are made to pass through adulthood related stress, they in tum begin to exhibit adult stress and related health and adult related delinquent behaviour. Most of them end up underachievers instead of academic prodigy hoped for by the parents. Some also subsequently become anxiety ridden and end up with sleep disorder, suicide, depression drugs and crime.
“Let me emphasize here that the significance of starting primary school at age of six and spending six years in primary school is globally established.
” The phenomenon of rushed children has remained with us because of the weak regulatory enforcement of the
National Policy on Education as well as the lack of sensitization on the Negative impact of the practice on the child and the society. It is in the light of the foregoing that I urge Quality Assurance Agencies and
practitioners to be up and doing in tackling this menace.
The founder of AMLi, Hanatu Enwemadu said the body is aimed at creating awareness as most parents are not aware of the effects of the syndrome on the children.
“We are basically out to sensitize people, to inform our governments, create awareness because a lot of us do not understand that this practice has an effect on Nigerian child or the African child as a whole.
So,parents and school owners should slow down. We can see our society, our youth, and not doing very well. Remember these children are our future. The future of Nigeria, the future of education. We have policies in place to address this, but like we say, we are all governments in our different industrial opposition. Government is a collaboration. So, we must come together and make a change.This has actually become a norm in most private spaces.
