Sir: As an important factor and catalyst for nations’ growth and development, proper and continuous investment in human capital is imperative for entrenchment of its main source, education. It must be well preserved and nurtured for national growth.
Nursery education is the most sensitive and critical foundation stage for grooming productive leadership in academic, career, and family endeavours. Hence, deliberate policies must be adopted by the government, parents, and the school support structures to nurture and preserve it.
This article is hinged on a simple three-point discourse to enable for understanding of its message. These points are also easy to remember and comprehend:
Government policy:
Governments at all levels stand the best chance of guaranteeing and entrenching positive value of education through creation of safe and secure environment for children of learning ages. Adequate provision of security, learning aids and materials to nursery schools will unarguably help to nurture pupils who grow to become responsible and patriotic citizens. Affordable and quality healthcare to these innocent citizens will also ensure a healthy nation with sound and productive human capital.
Parenting:
Parents are the first harbingers, influencers, and role models to their children. Because most parents often underestimate their children’s intelligence capacity, they ignorantly become culpable in their wards’ psychological, physical and moral decadence.
Responsible parenting is a right of every child, and they deserve to be protected from all forms of negative influence and abuse. Parents who carelessly engage in indecent dressing and expose their children to expletive audio and video contents are guilty of child abuse and defilement. Most issues arising from teenage rebellion can be linked to psychological trauma and mental imbalance, a direct consequence of cumulative mental and physical abuse. The sense of responsibility is vital and cannot be questioned.
However, the best way to kill something is to over-care for it. If we truly love our children dearly, we must learn to discipline them and be at peace with any good decision we took.
School support structure:
Positive efforts by governments at all levels and responsible parenting would go a long way in protecting and preserving the sanctity of nursery education. The success of every nursery education would almost guarantee strong foundation and environment to thrive if school support structures like the Parents Teachers Association continue to collaborate with relevant educational, corporate and government stakeholders in child development. After all, sound, productive and impactful education, they say, is beyond the four walls of classrooms.
• Oshiomhole Richard Inumah, journalist, media consultant, researcher and Children Rights advocate, wrote from Lagos.
