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Catch them at young age

PRE-SCHOOLING has become a necessary evil, feels S.AISHWARYA

PHOTO: M. MOORTHY

AFFABLE Environment for the kids

As her two-year-old son Sriram was getting ready to start schooling, Sheela Ramachandran, a homemaker, was losing her sleep. Her extensive search for a suitable pre-school was rather tiring.

Suggestions from friends and relatives finally led her to enrol her child in a school in the neighbourhood. And most surprisingly, all her scepticism disappeared in no time.

Today, she describes the school as "amazing" and which "suits the kid perfectly."

Tension-filled

Parents do undergo lot of tension and undertake lot of research before sending their toddlers to a playschool. Though the importance of pre-schooling continues to be a debatable matter, there is a proliferating band of working mothers in favour of such schools.

"It helps prepare the child for rigours of formal education," they chorus.

Sheela Ramachandran is one of them as she happily points out how these four months have taught her son basic obedience, which kids don't learn when at home.

"There is no Monday morning blues on my son's face either," she makes it a point to mention. "It is because we don't compel our children to study. We groom them instead of simply training them," quips Durriya Lal, a core-member of "Tender Feet" play school, where all energy is focused on making a child feel at home while in school.

Quality of education

The quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE), Ms. Durriya, however, leaves it to the parents.

"The onus lies on parents to identify a pre-school that will spruce up their child in a healthy way."

After spending two months at a play school, Ashwin, used to be petrified by the very mention of the word `school'.

"His parents brought him here requesting us to help him to adjust to the school environment as the purpose got defeated in the previous playschool where he was admitted," recalls Ms. Durriya.

Exclusive attention

"After months of exclusive attention, he is now a very friendly and vibrant child," she adds with pride.

Such psychological victories are possible when play schools are run out of school premises. "Play schools must have dedicated classrooms, not just one but many to constantly expose children to different environment," she explains.

Ms. Durriya says that parents should search for a school that looks "colourful and is fittingly packed with toys."

The environment must be hygienic and highly sanitised, preferably with comfortable couches and spacious classrooms to enable the children to move about freely. "Mothers should particularly check out the wash rooms, and make sure that the school is "kid-friendly". The play way method must neither pressurise nor pamper the kids," she says.

A good pre-school teacher, Ms. Durriya feels, should be strong in English, apart from having an innate inclination and love for kids. "Pre-schools are not entirely for business. Only when the trainer gets to know the psyche of children, the real grooming begins."

Mother's role

R. Venkatramani, the director of Zenith Academy, is all for pre-schools that slot in mother's role while educating a child. "A child below three years is never comfortable when his mother is not around. We make mothers sit beside the child and learn along with them." Such an environment, he feels, increases a child's curiosity and interest.

He desperately searches for the mother's look for the "see-I've-done-it" expression. But then even the best of pre-schools cannot provide the exposure of home environment, points out K. G. Meenakshi, an academician.

Cultural bond

She strongly feels that children should spend time with their parents at least till the age of three as it helps to strengthen family and cultural bond. "Children below three must be close to parents and close to nature. I'm personally not for pre-schools," she says.

"But then in a nuclear family, if a situation is such that the kid must be left unaccompanied, then it is better to leave them in schools that nurture them as they are," she adds.

Holistic education

"The environment must be affable to the kid and absolutely no formal training must be imparted. A holistic education is not mark-based. Learning ABCD at the age of two doesn't mean the child will crack the CAT in future," she quips.

With play schools packaging themselves with attractive strategies to set in a comfy ambience for kids, it is no longer a child's play for anxious parents to look and choose a right school for their little ones.

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