By Ngozi Nwoke
With the long vacation for basic and secondary schools already in progress across the country, summer coaching has taken the centre stage for the majority of the students particularly, those that are unable to travel for the holidays.
But following concerns shared in some quarters over students being burdened by academic work at a time they should take a break, psychologists, teachers and even students have disagreed on the impacts of continuing academic work during the holiday period.
Contrary to these concerns some parents have argued that the summer lessons are of great benefit to them and their children as it helps the students retain knowledge and skills gained during the regular school year.
Gabriel Ajayeoba, a 52-year-old father of four children in primary and secondary schools, said that the holiday lessons are not anything to worry about as they help to keep his children academically productive. He is of the view that children should be kept occupied with academic works as too much freedom could make them idle and redundant.
“My younger kids will be in primary two and three by September, while my older children will be in JSS2 and SS1 by the same period. The concern of the children being overloaded with academic work is unnecessary for me. The children are in the developmental stage. Yes, they are on vacation and they are expected to relax during the holidays, but not to the point of not attending lessons all through the long vacation.”
The concern for many parents, including Ajayeoba, is that keeping the children of the same age bracket at home over the long holiday period is, in itself, a burden. For that reason, Adaeze Chuku, a mother of two children in nursery and primary schools, suggested that parents and teachers should help students find the right balance between holiday lessons and making time for relaxation.
“I don’t see my kids being overloaded with lessons. The type of kids I have will forget everything they were taught in school. So, the summer lesson is not a burden at all. It serves many purposes. It helps the children stay busy in a better way and also helps the parents concentrate on their businesses. What matters is that parents get actively involved in their children’s education.”
Even with the cost implications, many parents would rather go for summer coaching than have their children at home during the holidays.
“Education is the key to success. All the notable and successful heroes today toiled relentlessly to achieve what they have. Grooming starts from a tender age. We must make the children form the habit of learning non-stop. My children do not attend the holiday lessons, but I teach them every day because I am a teacher.”
Some senior secondary school students who spoke to Saturday Sun did not show any sign of being burdened with academic work. For some, summer coaching is fun, even when it runs from around 8am till about 2pm from Monday to Thursday in most of the schools visited in Lagos with fees ranging from N5,000 to about N20,000.
Aisha Harun, a JSS2 student of Mutais Private School in the Iponri area of Lagos, told Saturday Sun that she doesn’t feel stressed by the holiday lessons as she is willing to learn.
“When I get home after the lesson by 2:00pm, I do my homework and my house chores. Then I watch TV from 4:00pm till around 7:pm before I go to bed. I love the holiday lessons because I learn new things that I was not taught during the school session.”
Similarly, Jamil Adamu, an SS2 student noted that he was coping progressively with the holiday lesson and is anxious to learn, “The lesson is okay. I don’t have any challenge with it. My teacher is an amazing teacher and I always want to come to the lesson to learn.”
But despite the relief parents get from summer coaching and the fun of it for students, psychologists and child-care advocates explained that as much as education is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values and personal development, heavy academic work is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children’s lives.
Juliana Njoku, clinical psychologist and lecturer at Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, explained that allowing children the freedom to enjoy adequate rest and social activities helps them to learn from many areas of life other than the classroom.
“Giving children time for relaxation after-school activities is very important. It helps them to rest their brains so as to be able to retain memories of what was taught, maintain concentration during the next class, and improve productivity generally.
There is every tendency for the brain to experience diminishing returns if over-stressed with academic activities, making all efforts to learn and money invested to be a waste.
“Also, it enables children to get involved in other activities other than school, such as involvement in out of school play, games with other children, religious and cultural activities, domestic and family engagements etc. There are many psychological effects of depriving a child of adequate rest and loading the child with academic activities. The child is likely to lose the intimacy and the natural bonding that should exist between family members, and may not be close to the parents.
The psychologist argued further that it is equally not good for academic excellence as the child may also experience academic anxiety – a condition in which the child develops feelings of worry, tension, or fear for school activities. In this circumstance, some children may begin to avoid school or go to places that could be dangerous to their well-being in the guise of attending school because school has become boring.
Similarly, Nuhu David, a clinical psychologist at the Crusade for Greater Nigeria and Rehabilitation Ltd, Kugbo, Abuja, revealed that social participation makes learning interesting, adding that vacation is a recommended therapy for mental stability.
“Education has been a tool for human transformation. It is an art of impacting knowledge, discipline, character and morals into an individual in order to enhance their capacity and productivity. As much as education is needed to ensure a complete involvement of children with academic studies, it is also essential for them to take adequate time-off to ease stress in their brain.
“Mental health is the mother of all other forms of wellbeing that needs to be put in check to ensure adequate performance of the child. The Lack of fun and relaxation has the capacity to affect the psychological and emotional wellbeing of the child overtime. The children’s roster of activities has to be regulated and followed strictly. Sleep must be taken seriously because deprivation of sleep can affect the immune system of a child.”
Uduak Umoh, a leading psychologist at, Breath-take Specialist Clinic, Ikeja, Lagos, noted that anxiety, lack of adequate sleep and pressure is a major cause of mental breakdown faced by children of school age.
“The pressure to perform academically and meet homework expectations can lead to heightened levels of anxiety in pupils and students. Constant worry about completing assignments on time and achieving high grades can be overwhelming. Academic related stress can disrupt students’ sleep patterns, leading to sleep anxiety or sleep deprivation, both of which can negatively impact cognitive function and emotional regulation.” But educationists disagree. Mrs Peace Nwoke, proprietor of Wokens Ideal School, Ikeja, Lagos, emphasized the importance of engaging students in summer coaching as it offers many benefits that contribute to their academic growth and development.
“In this long vacation, which is for over one month, we do not encourage our children to be idle. They are mandated to attend the holiday lessons. It is their parents who should create time for them to have fun activities at home after the lessons. The lessons come with take-home assignments and they are mandated to complete the homework within specified deadlines and submit.
Along the same line of thinking, Beckley Daniel, Principal of Mutais Private School, Lagos, maintained: “Holiday lessons are as necessary as regular academic work. We cannot run the academic curriculum without including the holiday lessons.
It is a long vacation of close to two months. The students cannot be allowed to stay without being academically engaged all through. The lesson is not intensive as they resume by 8:00 am and close by 2:00pm from Monday to Friday.“