The Purpose of Early Childhood Education

Nursery/Pre-primary Education

As we already discussed, pre-primary education refers to the education given to children between the age of 3 to 5 years plus in an educational institution before they enter primary schools. That is, such a place must be approved by the government as a place for the education of children between 3 and 5 years. There are many of such establishments in both urban and semi-urban towns in Nigeria. Did you attend one when you were young? Do you have your own children there? Why do you keep your children in such an establishment?


Well, there are many people who may not really know why children need pre-primary education. There are some women, who were interviewed a few years back on why they send their children to the nursery schools. Their answers include the following: "I send my children there because the other children of my husband are there', 'because I want my children to speak good English', 'because, I want the children to give me peace and time to do some other things at home, etc." These reasons given by the women might be good. However, there are many people who do not send their children to nursery schools at all. Some do not send their children because they cannot pay the high fees charged in the schools. There are others who do not send their children to nursery schools as a result of ignorance. For example, I met a man in the early 1980s who said it is a waste of time and money to send children to nursery schools. According to the man, he did not attend a nursery school when he was young and he was still able to become a university graduate. There are many people like the women mentioned above and this man. In other words, there are many people who even send their children to the nursery schools without knowing the benefits their children can derive from the school. There are also some like that man who felt that since he has 'made it' without nursery school education, it is a luxury to send children there.


Well, I do not want to disagree with the man who said he 'made it' even without attending a nursery school. There are many Nigerians like that who have become great men and women in the various professions without attending a nursery school. I am sure if you interview all the professors in Nigerian universities today; majority of them will tell you they did not attend nursery school when they were young. That is that time; but I do not think there would be any of the professors or lecturers who will tell you he does not want his/her children to attend nursery school. Even market men and women, who in most cases are not literate, now send their children to nursery schools. So, it now appears that our people are becoming more interested in the education of their children, even at this preschool level. Most parents particularly those who are illiterates want their children to be better than themselves hence they send their children to the nursery schools.


It is now a popular thing throughout the modern world to send children to nursery schools when they are not old enough to start primary education. The pre-school establishments have therefore been recognized all over the world as good place for the children before they start primary education. There must be some very strong reasons for this. The whole world cannot just be doing something without some very strong reasons. Why then do children between the age of 3 and 5 years need pre-school/nursery education? There are many reasons. Let us examine some of them now.


In modern societies, married women are now taking up paid employment to augment family economy. This means that they are no longer full-time housewives whose main duty is to take care of the family. Besides, as you are already aware, the African extended family system whereby there are always people at home to look after the children is gradually giving way. Moreover, house helps where available are now very expensive. Even some of the house helps have become security risks hence many people do not like to have them again. Therefore, in order to ensure safety and adequate care of the children while their parents are at work, the nursery school is necessary. When children are left in the nursery school, the parents can have peace of mind and be sure that their children are not only safe, but also under the care of experts. Therefore, for security reasons, the nursery school is a good place to keep the children when their parents are away at work.


Another important reason for having the nursery school for children is the fact that, it provides children with very good environment for socialization. There is no home, however wealthy that can provide the type of environment which nursery schools provide for the proper education of children. For example, no home can have as many as twenty or more children of the same age group. There is also no home that can provide the different experts in education as well as the live experiences, which the school can provide. Therefore, since children need a good environment for their proper social and emotional development, it has become necessary for parents to keep their children in the nursery schools.


As stated by Akinbote (2001), the ability of a child to realise his potentials depends on the type of stimulation and encouragement the child receives from home. However, as a result of the socio-economic problems in Nigeria for example, many parents can no longer provide their children the necessary stimulation which they need for their all round development. Therefore, in order to prevent anything that will reduce or prevent the child's rate of maturation and high level of achievement, the nursery school is necessary for the child. In the nursery school the child will receive the necessary opportunities which are not available at home.

There are also some children with some problems, which the parents may not actually notice or identify in their children early. The problems could be physical such as bad sight or hearing problems. It could also be emotional problems such as fear, restlessness, etc. The various experts in the nursery schools could help to detect such problem early and advice the parents on how to correct them. There are many examples of such problems that should be corrected before they get out of hand. Therefore, in order to provide children with the necessary security and care while their parents are away at work, we need the nursery schools. Also, for proper social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of children, the nursery school is a must for all children in modern societies. In fact, experts in the field of early childhood education as well as brain development have emphasized that the period between 0 and 5 years is critical for all the areas of development that we have mentioned earlier including personality and character development. It is further pointed out that it might be difficult to put things right in children if proper care is not given at this period of development. Can you see that we can not neglect or ignore this level of education? As we mentioned earlier on, the importance of pre-primary/nursery education for the well being of the child has been recognized all over the world. 

In Nigeria, government has realised the importance of pre-primary education hence, it has stated the purpose of this level of education in the National Policy on Education (1998) as follows:

1.  to effect a smooth transition from home to school. 
2. to prepare the child for the primary level of education 
3. to provide adequate care and supervision for the children while their parents are at work (on the farms, in the markets, offices, etc.) 
4. to inculcate social norms 
5.  to inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and playing with toys, etc. 
6. to develop a sense of cooperation and team-spirit 
7.  to learn good habits, especially good health habits, and 
8. to teach the rudiments of numbers, letters, colours, shapes, forms, etc through play. 

From our discussion so far, you will surely know that, it is not a luxury to send children to pre-primary schools. In fact, in some units that we shall discuss later, you will see how the love for children's welfare has led to the development of early childhood education over the years.

 Primary Education

I am very sure that many of us are familiar with primary schools. This is because we have all at one time or the other attended primary school. Some of us had our primary school education in the cities, some in the towns and some in the villages. Do you still remember what we said when we were discussing pre-primary education? We said there are many professors and other successful professional men and women in Nigeria who did not attend a pre-primary or nursery school. However, have you ever seen a professor, a doctor, lawyer, engineer, teacher or nurse who has never attended a primary school? I have never seen any of such people who have never attended a primary school. I know of some professors and many successful businessmen and women who did not attend a secondary school. They had their primary school education and with that, they started studying privately at home for their O'level and other examinations. Find out from your father, grandfather or any other old relation whether or not they ever attended a secondary school. I am sure some will say yes and some will say no, but none will tell you that they did not attend a primary school. If there is anyone of them who never attended a primary school even for three or four years and is a successful accountant, banker, sailor, etc, then he is a rare person. What we have just discussed above tell much about primary education. It is the most commonly found educational institution in all parts of the world. It is available in the developed and the developing countries, 

in urban and rural areas. For example, not every town in Nigeria has a university, a polytechnic, college of education, or a technical college. There are even some small communities without a secondary school. However, in modem day Nigeria, I do not think there is any community with about 500 to 1000 people without a primary school. Why is primary education made so common in the country then? Why are governments in various parts of the world investing heavily in primary education? There must be some important reasons why this level of education is made available everywhere. Now, let us quickly have a look at some of the reasons.