By: Emmanuel Fateman
The hurried child agenda has been identified as one major destructive syndrome leading to half-baked or non productive person’s in the society.
An address by the Director, Senior Secondary Schools, Federal Ministry of Education, Hajia Binta Abdulkadir, identified this at a one-day Stakeholders Town Hall Meeting on the Hurried Child organized by the Mothers Love initiative at BON Hotel Elvis, Abuja on 17 November 2022.
Abdulkadri who represented the Honorable Minister for Education expressed delight to welcome everyone at the event in the key note address.
The on one-day Stakeholders Town Hall meeting on the Hurried Child Syndrome with the theme; Implication for Sustainable National Development, was described by Hajia Abdulkadri as “informed and indeed a unique one because this is the first time the Federal Ministry of Education’s attention is being officially drawn to the issue of the Hurried Child”.
Speaking further, “I have been relatively informed that this stakeholders meeting have been packaged by the Mothers Love Initiative, a non-governmental organization, in commemoration of the celebration of the World Day for the prevention of child abuse. This meeting is also meant to sensitize the society on the ills of the hurried child syndrome from the Nigerian perspective.” the address read.
“This meeting is hereby expected to provide a gauge on the level of awareness, the perception of various relevant stakeholders and what they can offer by the way of intervention in advocating for measures to stop the syndrome as well as providing support to victims.”
The hurried child syndrome is a popular bug among the elite class. It is a process of transferring their children from childhood to adulthood overnight by skipping the process of natural growth.
The practice of children skipping classes based on a rigorous academic scrutiny or overage consideration is not new in the educational sphere. However the recent trend in the practice places it on the status of an unacceptable norm, rather than an exception.
Today most pupils transit from primary five or even primary four to junior secondary 1. This leaves most schools without the primary six (6) classes. This unhealthy trend is also found in the senior secondary school where students in senior secondary school SSI and SS2 sit for terminal and university entrance examinations.
They are propelled on by their parent’s desire and impatience. This is the hurried child syndrome. This is reflection in some instance of the misconception of the interpretation of the Nigerian Educational system (6-3-3-4).
The situation also brings to fore the gradual erosion of the basic essence of education in Nigeria today. The lack of attention to the full delivery of the primary school curriculum with the absence of primary six(6) compromises the child’s opportunity to acquire the full complements, knowledge skills, emotional, physical and moral development as prescribed in the curriculum.
What are the implications of the Hurried Child Syndrome?
The drive by parents and schools to push children through schools is more counter-productive than productive. Studies have shown that the age a child starts school could affect his/her attendance and graduation rate.
Study by the United States National Bureau revealed that older student do better than younger class mates This means that the drive to rush children through school could be counter-productive as it does not ensure proper and thorough Learning sequences that will fulfill the Learning outcomes.
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 a nviety 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.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 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.
On behalf of the Honorable Minister of Education, I congratulate the Mothers Love Initiative for packaging this programme and for drawing the attention of Nigerians to the menace of the Hurried Child Syndrome.
This is the right step in the right direction.” She concluded.
In a goodwill message conveyed by the executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Prof. PAULINUS CHIDIOKE OKWELLE at the Occasion, it was established that the Hurried Child Project focuses on the total wellbeing and education of the Nigerian children. The objective of the campaign, was also identified to sensitize the public and preach against the psycho social implications of the Hurried Child syndrome.
“Accepting to be at the vanguard of this psycho-socio crusade is in itself a sense of responsibility and a rare display of a patriotic spirit. It is imperative that this reawakening is timely, especially now that the education sector is beset with various challenges which, cumulatively aggregate to weaken pupils learning outcomes in Nigerian schools. In analysing such situation, education experts have often linked this situation to various factors such as poor learning environment, poorly trained and ineffective teachers lacking appropriate pedagogical skills or at times, failure in provision of adequate learning facilities not forgetting poor teacher renumeration and a host of others. Children leaning challenges arising from hurried child syndrome hardly features in the list of causative”.
