The type of education to be imparted to the children before they enter into the formal education system is called pre-primary education. This is the education to be imparted to the children in the age group of 3 to 6 years. It is considered essential as it provides the opportunity to the children to experience community-life on a small scale where children of similar as well as varying ages work and play with one another day-by day. Future prejudices and social maladjustments are removed by the provision of properly “controlled environment” for the children when they are at this stage. In addition, Pre-Primary education also provides the scope of being ready for formal education and helps them to enhance their performance standard in the primary classes.
It is said that Pre-Primary education is of great significance to the physical, emotional and intellectual development of the children, especially those with unsatisfactory home background.
The development of a nation depends upon the development of its children. As such the UNICEF measures the development of a nation on the yardstick of the development of children.
The main objective of the Pre-Primary education is the holistic development of the child. The development includes the following areas as stated in the book entitled ‘A Guide for Nursery School Teachers’ published by NCERT in 1978:
■Development of Physical Health and Motor Skills;
■Development of Good Health Habits;
■ Development of Desirable Social Attitude and Manners;
■ Development of Emotional Maturity;
■ Development of Aesthetic Values;
■ Stimulation of Intellectual Curiosity;
■ Encouraging Independence and Creativity; and
■ Development of Language.
Pre-Primary Education in the District
In Sikkim, the Pre-Primary Education is being provided by both the government and private agencies like Human Resource Development Department, Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department and private schools.
Pre-Primary Education managed by the Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department
The District possesses 265 ICDS Centres being run by the Women and Child Division of Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department, Government of Sikkim. These centres provide care and education to pre-primary children. However, the education imparted by these centres is not considered as formal education i.e. qualifying for the admission in class I (first grade) in the Government Schools.
Pre-Primary Education managed by Private Schools
Another agency which caters the pre-primary education is the private schools. There are 109 private schools running under South District. They have play group, Nursery, L/KG and U/KG at pre-primary level.
Pre-Primary Education managed by the Human Resource Development Department
The Human Resource Development Department is the largest agency catering pre-primary education in the district. The totals of 56% of children are in the government schools.
The pre-primary education is being provided in the formal school itself. It means every school has pre-primary section attached to it and a teacher called School Mother is provided to teach these children. It is said that a child should attain 5 years of age when s/he is brought to school for admission in Pre-Primary Class. Normally, a child enters into the normal school system at the age of 6 years after passing one year Pre-primary Class.
As it is already mentioned that the education catered by the ICDS centres is not considered as the pre-school education by the government schools of the district, the children have to take admission in pre-primary class either they had attended ICDS centres or not. This is one of the reason of accumulation of overage children in the school system. It is seen that one of the reason of failure and dropping out of the children from the school is due to overage.
Thus it is thought that a brief study on the age category of the children of pre-primary class of government schools would be helpful to understand the status of children those are going to feed Class I next year.
For the study, 66.82% of the total government schools of the district were selected by random sampling and the age group-wise enrolments of pre-primary class were collected. The data were consolidated gender-wise, age-wise and sub-division-wise basis.
It is found that the children attending the pre-primary class are of assorted age groups ranging from 4 to 12 years. If it is considered that the entry age of a child to enter into the pre-school system is <6 years, then the district has only 50.11% of children are of right age. This means 49.89% children attending pre-primary class in government schools are overage children.
It is already mentioned that the teachers appointed to teach pre-primary class in the State is called School Mothers. This post is exclusively reserved for the women. The procedure of appointment of school mothers is simple as the candidates do not need to sit for any competitive examination or interview to get selected. The appointment is solely on the discretion of area MLAs. Maximum numbers of school mothers appointed in early eighties were under matric because this post was in fixed pay basis at that time. Later on, the provision is revised and the candidates having minimum qualification of matriculation or having pre-primary teacher training certificate were conferred scale of pay.
The State Government has the provision of special quota for school mothers having higher qualification in the primary teacher selection test. Thus, it is seen that the qualified and efficient school mother gets promoted to primary teacher and less qualified one remains at pre-primary level. This has degraded the quality of pre-primary education in the state which cannot be compensated at any cost. Moreover, the annual examination results of pre-primary class of last three years reveal that average of 46% children fail in this class every year.
It is thought that the numbers of school mothers in the district by educational qualification is also an area of concern. A detail survey was conducted to see the number of school mothers by their educational qualifications. It was found that maximum number of school mothers falls in matriculate category and 22.91% of them are under matric.
It is found during the school visits that the classes at the pre-primary level in government schools are not totally allotted to school mothers. The primary teachers are also sent to the pre-primary class for teaching purpose. The heads of the school advocate that the primary teachers are more qualified and efficient than school mothers and can teach this class more effectively. However, it cannot be recommended as pre-primary and primary are two different levels of educational management system. Further, the classroom management, child management, teaching-learning processes etc. of pre-primary level are completely different from primary. It is technically considered that the primary teachers are not at all competent to teach pre-primary class.
The processes involved in teaching- learning is totally a technical matter and a person without training cannot be entrusted for teaching job. Pre-primary education is also called the early childhood education. Thus, the introduction of 3 R’s in this class is always expected. However, the formal method of introducing 3 R’s is discouraged. There should be activities or playway methods.
It is found that the children attending the pre-primary classes of government schools are being evaluated in summative way which is discouraging for the children. The recommended methods of evaluating the children of pre-primary class are continuous and comprehensive methods. Further, the children should not be detained in this class.
It is also recommended that the pre-primary class should be segregated in three groups on the basis of age of the children within a classroom and multi-grade teaching is to be introduced. The segregation can be done in the following way -
♥ 3 yrs child in PP - “C” Group
♥ 4 yrs child in PP - “B” Group
♥ 5 yrs child in PP - “A” Group
This sort of arrangement can ensure the entry of a child in primary level at the age of exact 6 years and does not allow the accumulation of overage children in pre-primary level.
*************
[This is 5th chapter of the book titled “A Study on Reasons of Failure and Repetition at Primary Level in Government Schools of South District of Sikkim” a research study conducted by
.png)
Dhan B. Subba in 2007-08 and submitted to the Secretary, Human Resource Development Department, Govt. of Sikkim, in May 2008.]
It is said that Pre-Primary education is of great significance to the physical, emotional and intellectual development of the children, especially those with unsatisfactory home background.
The development of a nation depends upon the development of its children. As such the UNICEF measures the development of a nation on the yardstick of the development of children.
The main objective of the Pre-Primary education is the holistic development of the child. The development includes the following areas as stated in the book entitled ‘A Guide for Nursery School Teachers’ published by NCERT in 1978:
■Development of Physical Health and Motor Skills;
■Development of Good Health Habits;
■ Development of Desirable Social Attitude and Manners;
■ Development of Emotional Maturity;
■ Development of Aesthetic Values;
■ Stimulation of Intellectual Curiosity;
■ Encouraging Independence and Creativity; and
■ Development of Language.
Pre-Primary Education in the District
In Sikkim, the Pre-Primary Education is being provided by both the government and private agencies like Human Resource Development Department, Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department and private schools.
Pre-Primary Education managed by the Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department
The District possesses 265 ICDS Centres being run by the Women and Child Division of Social Justice, Empowerment and Welfare Department, Government of Sikkim. These centres provide care and education to pre-primary children. However, the education imparted by these centres is not considered as formal education i.e. qualifying for the admission in class I (first grade) in the Government Schools.
Pre-Primary Education managed by Private Schools
Another agency which caters the pre-primary education is the private schools. There are 109 private schools running under South District. They have play group, Nursery, L/KG and U/KG at pre-primary level.
Pre-Primary Education managed by the Human Resource Development Department
The Human Resource Development Department is the largest agency catering pre-primary education in the district. The totals of 56% of children are in the government schools.
The pre-primary education is being provided in the formal school itself. It means every school has pre-primary section attached to it and a teacher called School Mother is provided to teach these children. It is said that a child should attain 5 years of age when s/he is brought to school for admission in Pre-Primary Class. Normally, a child enters into the normal school system at the age of 6 years after passing one year Pre-primary Class.
As it is already mentioned that the education catered by the ICDS centres is not considered as the pre-school education by the government schools of the district, the children have to take admission in pre-primary class either they had attended ICDS centres or not. This is one of the reason of accumulation of overage children in the school system. It is seen that one of the reason of failure and dropping out of the children from the school is due to overage.
Thus it is thought that a brief study on the age category of the children of pre-primary class of government schools would be helpful to understand the status of children those are going to feed Class I next year.
For the study, 66.82% of the total government schools of the district were selected by random sampling and the age group-wise enrolments of pre-primary class were collected. The data were consolidated gender-wise, age-wise and sub-division-wise basis.
It is found that the children attending the pre-primary class are of assorted age groups ranging from 4 to 12 years. If it is considered that the entry age of a child to enter into the pre-school system is <6 years, then the district has only 50.11% of children are of right age. This means 49.89% children attending pre-primary class in government schools are overage children.
It is already mentioned that the teachers appointed to teach pre-primary class in the State is called School Mothers. This post is exclusively reserved for the women. The procedure of appointment of school mothers is simple as the candidates do not need to sit for any competitive examination or interview to get selected. The appointment is solely on the discretion of area MLAs. Maximum numbers of school mothers appointed in early eighties were under matric because this post was in fixed pay basis at that time. Later on, the provision is revised and the candidates having minimum qualification of matriculation or having pre-primary teacher training certificate were conferred scale of pay.
The State Government has the provision of special quota for school mothers having higher qualification in the primary teacher selection test. Thus, it is seen that the qualified and efficient school mother gets promoted to primary teacher and less qualified one remains at pre-primary level. This has degraded the quality of pre-primary education in the state which cannot be compensated at any cost. Moreover, the annual examination results of pre-primary class of last three years reveal that average of 46% children fail in this class every year.
It is thought that the numbers of school mothers in the district by educational qualification is also an area of concern. A detail survey was conducted to see the number of school mothers by their educational qualifications. It was found that maximum number of school mothers falls in matriculate category and 22.91% of them are under matric.
It is found during the school visits that the classes at the pre-primary level in government schools are not totally allotted to school mothers. The primary teachers are also sent to the pre-primary class for teaching purpose. The heads of the school advocate that the primary teachers are more qualified and efficient than school mothers and can teach this class more effectively. However, it cannot be recommended as pre-primary and primary are two different levels of educational management system. Further, the classroom management, child management, teaching-learning processes etc. of pre-primary level are completely different from primary. It is technically considered that the primary teachers are not at all competent to teach pre-primary class.
The processes involved in teaching- learning is totally a technical matter and a person without training cannot be entrusted for teaching job. Pre-primary education is also called the early childhood education. Thus, the introduction of 3 R’s in this class is always expected. However, the formal method of introducing 3 R’s is discouraged. There should be activities or playway methods.
It is found that the children attending the pre-primary classes of government schools are being evaluated in summative way which is discouraging for the children. The recommended methods of evaluating the children of pre-primary class are continuous and comprehensive methods. Further, the children should not be detained in this class.
It is also recommended that the pre-primary class should be segregated in three groups on the basis of age of the children within a classroom and multi-grade teaching is to be introduced. The segregation can be done in the following way -
♥ 3 yrs child in PP - “C” Group
♥ 4 yrs child in PP - “B” Group
♥ 5 yrs child in PP - “A” Group
This sort of arrangement can ensure the entry of a child in primary level at the age of exact 6 years and does not allow the accumulation of overage children in pre-primary level.
*************
[This is 5th chapter of the book titled “A Study on Reasons of Failure and Repetition at Primary Level in Government Schools of South District of Sikkim” a research study conducted by
No comments:
Post a Comment