IT is with some degree of concern that I take the pain to find the time during my tight schedule to address a matter that seems to raise alarm bells: This matter  has to do with extra-lessons for grades 2 – 6 students, and form 1 – 5 students. Now I am not an expert in the area of education, but I think I have some degree of understanding of the way children suppose to grow up in a society where there is stiff competition for performance.
Firstly, let me for a moment remind our readers that when a child is in the mother’s womb, amazingly that child or baby, as a foetus, which is about 10 weeks of development begins to recognise voices and sounds which sharpen the child’s learning abilities. During that period if the mother is traumatised, the child suffers in a similar way emotionally. If the mother is joyful and glad over some situation the child in the womb likewise experiences ecstatic outburst of joy that causes the feet to kick and head to move in circles.
More so if the mother finds herself singing joyfully and gesticulate with her hands the child in the womb would articulate the same.
There is strong evidence to show that a child’s education begins within the womb. And when I say education, I don’t necessarily mean learning in the traditional way –  reading or writing. But the cognitive aspect of learning takes place right there in the womb.
I am convinced that this is indeed so, as in the middle of 2009, I had an experience and did an experiment with the pregnancy of a woman, whom I supported by preparing her meals some days in the week for months travelling almost ten miles every occasion to get to her location, because of the unusual setting which I don’t have to explain.
The mother was confined to bed for months during her pregnancy and left alone for hours and the only time of reprieve and respite was when I would appear at the door with a meal in my hands. During this time I carried on conversations with her and prayed with her. I spoke to the baby in her womb to live and not die.
I did this until the day she got the baby (seven months in the womb) with tremendous complications and difficulties. She was fortunate to bring forth this particular child as the doctor had put her at a 50/50 chance of loosing the child, and the likelihood of a life threatening scenario emerging.
Now I want to make a pronouncement that may be too popular with the educators (Paediatricians’) of the day that a child can sing in the womb, and a child can dance in the womb. The action of singing and dancing is a form of learning. More so when that child is two or three years old, the brain and the ability to comprehend are enhanced by the things the child touch, see, hear, smell and taste. This is where the foundation of all learning springs from. These senses constitute the centre of learning and the beginning of education.
Now if that child is not given the opportunity to exercise those senses this process of learning is affected negatively.
It is my belief that a child’s formal education begins at two or mostly three years old. Now we come to this madness that has taken over our families and communities in Guyana – extra lessons.
Based on what I shared with my readers, I worked along with the Ministry of Education for as long as 14 years, serving as Chairman of three schools – the last school board I served on was Buxton Community High School between the years 2002 – 2005.
My wife is a (specialist) school teacher for as long as 16 years. I am surrounded with learning and teaching. I am familiar with teaching methods, teaching techniques, teaching aids, and all forms of teaching.
So let me say this clearly and emphatically a child at six or seven should not be deprived of his/her time of developing physically by playing. The brain is not the only organ that needs developing.
A secondary school child starts lessons early in the morning, and then moves into a classroom at nine to spend the entire day at school; except for lunch or morning break. Then the madness starts when that student is scooted off to a two-hour lesson in the afternoon only to complete in time to run off to a one-hour evening lesson and then it is night. To my mind this is madness; real madness. That child is deprived of a vital part of his/her development as an individual.
As it is, some parents are sacrificing their children’s social well-being at the altar of Lesson-mania where there is no real guarantee that the child will be a high flyer and become the next President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
I know a man who in the late seventies or early eighties became the “youngest” Chartered Accountant in this nation. He was offered the job of financial controller of the Bauxite Company at Mackenzie now Linden and lived in a Government building at Richmond Hill. This young man never attended extra lessons in his day and time. He grew up in a single parent family and studied at night in the comfort of his humble abode to pass his exams.
I mentioned this to make a point that today, many parents are frantic and out of panic they rush to the most qualified teacher in the evening hours to enroll their child when in reality, if they should monitor that same child in the comfort of their homes, and give that child the opportunity to develop naturally; I am certain that would take away the panic and anxiety and that child will do better.
Many parents because of their economic status race to Extra Lesson (Lesson- Mania) where there is a certain culture that is anti-social; anti-learning; non-productive, and in some instances serve as a distraction to real learning. Undoubtedly, this may not be the case for all but the majority of students.
For an average middle class family who has a child in the public system (primary) to have that child go through the trauma of standing on the roadway for more than 45 minutes after 5 pm in the afternoon to catch a bus to be home before 6 or 6:30 pm is tantamount to emotional or psychological abuse. (Mischief may very well be afoot when boys 12 – 14 years old are on the road long enough).
The logistics of time comes in here. The hours that the child spends away from home after the regular school hours, if properly utilised and managed at home studying(looking over their work); reading a book or writing; or doing home chores will certainly enhance their learning ability.
The downside of Lesson-Mania is that many parents are pressured and become irritated and upset when their children do not perform to their expectations. It would be of some profit to some parents, especially those in the low income bracket to re-examine and re-assess their actions of sacrificing their child to a culture that is in no way contributing to the well being of their offspring.