Dr. Asangba Tzüdir
There was a time when pre-school was hardly heard of, or even its need and importance felt. Those were the days when parents and teachers had a hard time trying to adapt the children to the school. Some children as old as 5 years would end up crying the year through. Today, with changing times and with the level of growth and cognitive development of the children, due importance is given to pre-school. Parenthood brings hosts of new worries for their children, one of which is to ensure that the right kind of knowledge and education is inculcated in the children at the right time. As such pre-school is a necessity. It is not a trend but a necessity for the emotional and intellectual development of the child besides inculcating school readiness skills and adaptability to class environment along with self-awareness of the environment and the things around them.
Learning is an integral component of life and is a lifelong process. It is imperative that the right process and ways of learning is developed in the minds of the children at the right time. For many children, pre-school is their first experience in an organized and structured setting under the guidance of the teachers with other children where one can learn to share and follow instructions and thereby begin the foundation for learning at an early age through activities in sync with the children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and physical abilities. In order to learn, a young child needs proper care and to make them feel secured with a teacher or those who takes care of them. For a 2-3 year old child to spend time away from parents with adult teachers would definitely increase their level of maturity as well as emotional self-control besides building warm trusting relationships with adults outside the family. Insecurities in the parents about their children’s learning abilities and proper personality growth will get a positive boost through the reports on their child’s activities besides regular meetings to assess the child’s progress.
It is said that between the ages 3 and 5, a child’s vocabulary grows from 900 to 2,500 words, and pre-school is where the language skills of the children are nurtured and developed at the right time for better comprehension and expression. Alongside, the curious minds of the children are pricked by focusing on the children’s interests and ideas by way of engaging them in various playgroup activities. These are spaces to create social interactions with the peers and teachers besides helping them broaden their imagination.
Pre-school thereby prepares for a smooth transition to kindergarten and so on. It is foundational to preparing for the next level of education and so on. This is the way forward in building a holistic education system. Education system cannot be randomly put in place. It is a process that is set in tune with the timely growth and cognitive development of the child. If one level of education fails in addressing to the developmental aspects of the children then the entire system collapses.
Even today, a ‘lack’ has been felt in our education system. The system has failed to help the students in identifying ones interests, potentials and abilities which will enable them to make independent yet wise decisions for themselves fully knowing ones capabilities so also ones limits. A holistic approach to education system beginning with pre-school is thus paramount which will go a long way in improving the pedagogical health and its associated system through timely intervention.
(Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is Editor with Heritage Publishing House. He writes a weekly guest editorial for the Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
