THE Provost of the Federal College of Education (Technical) Asaba), Prof (Mrs.) Josephine Anene-Okeakwa, has criticised the rushing of children through primary and secondary schools by some parents.
Prof Anene-Okeakwa, who was reacting to the pegging of university admission age limit at 18 by the Federal Government, said it was wrong for parents to rush the early education of their children just because they would want them to graduate before their mates.
The Asaba-born Professor of Home Economics recalled that hand over the head to the tip of the ear was the criterion for admission to primary school in the 20th century and the products of the education system at the time were mature, responsible and independent-minded.
She blamed the trending under age enrolment of children to nursery and primary schools on the advent of private schools and parents’ desire to be free from their kids for some hours of the day, even at less than two years old, to be able to attend to house chores, work or businesses.
Prof Anene-Okeakwa, who revealed that none of her children graduated before the age of 24, said rushing children through school had its consequences, including social immaturity and lack of self-control, stressing that at 18, adulthood had set in and one could make the right decisions and act independently.
The Provost said though some of the children were exceptionally brilliant, they still needed to be guided from the cradle to the University so that they could properly understand the dynamics of life and become responsible individuals in private and public life.
She urged Nigerians to allow the nation’s school system to work by encouraging their children to spend the required number of years in primary and secondary schools, emphasizing that there was no need to rush them.
