How academics overload can deform, create school phobia for children

Kemi Adesoji’s daughter, Jumoke, is a five-year old primary one pupil in one of the private schools in Surulere, Lagos. She closes from school daily by 4:00pm, except on Fridays.

Despite resuming school 7:30am for assembly with academic work starting at 8:00am, she usually goes home with loads of home work, when she closes by 4:00pm. The school actually closes by 3:00pm but the school has arranged a collective school lesson for pupils with parents, which makes them stay back for one hour school lessons.

There are many pupils in Jumoke’s shoe in Lagos and across Nigeria who spend between eight to 10 hours in schools, mostly private ones, in spite of the loads of home works they usually take home. Aside from all these academic works, some parents still privately engage the services of some teachers for extra home lessons after school. Some parents even have arrangement of two sets of teachers to take turn to teach their wards daily.

Also providing insight about the daily academic routine of his daughter, a parent, Mr. Adeyemi Adesanya, said his seven-year old daughter resumes school within the Agege axis at 8:00am and closes by 3:00pm but would stay back in school for lesson that ends between 4:30 and 5:00pm.

In spite of this, he added that the daughter usually returns from school with loads of home works.
On her part, Mrs. Alice Peter, said that her son attends one of the primary schools within the University of Lagos, resuming at 8:00am and closes by 3:00pm. She added that there is a teacher that privately teaches him at home daily after school hours. He further said the son usually brings back homework from school too.

While some parents are alleged to be behind the long academic hours their wards spend in school, which are, sometimes, extended to homes through lessons and homework, some parents and child development experts are wondering if the academic pressures on the children are not too much, with negative consequences.

A parent, Mr. Bassey Okon, said his children close the day’s programmes by 2:00pm because he told the school that his children would not participate in the extra school lessons that had been collectively arranged for pupils. He added that it is not because of the extra fees he would pay or that he had arranged any special private home lesson for his pupils but just that for his children to have enough rest and play time back home after school.

Okon stated he was fine with what they have been taught during the normal school hours considering they also bring back homework, which is an extension of the learning hours daily.

Feeling concerned as a result of complaints, Anambra State government recently issued a directive to schools in the state that daily academic activities should end maximally by 2:30pm.

The state’s Commissioner for Education, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, a professor, said the state government has adopted the United Nations (UN) recommendation for schools to end daily academic activities by 2:30pm.

She said the adoption would enable children to have adequate rest and interactions with their parents daily. Commenting, Professor of Child Psychology and Early Childhood Education at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Idongesit Obianuju, argued that every minute and hour of a child is a learning hour, but the way learning has been structured in Nigeria is the issue.

She noted that parents often leave the entire learning exercise to teachers stating that at home, pupils are supposed to rest and learn, just as they learn in school depending on the age of the children.

“From age two to five, I have said that every minute is a time to learn. The child picks from parents, on the streets, and in the school. “However, I don’t subscribe so much to the chalk and board learning. From two to five, chalk and board honestly make it too formal but if they are meant to play and learn along, that is better. They can learn no matter the number of hours provided that when they want to sleep, they are allowed to sleep, but every minute of a child may be turned into a learning time.

“The learning that we talk about in Nigeria is to sit down to read after the teacher, but it is not. It should be free. So, if they are taken to a custodian centre, which may be termed as school and they play and learn and not sit down looking at the board, I don’t mind the number of hours they spend there so that the parent may be comfortable at work, but it shouldn’t be too long because the child needs to familiarise with the father and the mother. If not, they will now prefer the learning at school above home.” She, however, said that many of the schools with long hours of teaching and academic hours were only working on meeting the demands of parents.

The consequence of long stretch of academic period, she said, might be the pupils having school phobia. “Children can go to school, spend about five hours and return. But within that time, at least one or two hours should be a break time where they do other things apart from real learning.” 

Also, a Professor of Educational Management at the University of Lagos, Adebayo Oladipo, said it is important for elementary schools to work around the strength of the pupils like determining whether they have long or low attention spans.

He nonetheless said: “Children have short attention spans. There is a strategy called play work problem-solving. Everything built around the experiences of the children should revolve around play. Whether it is numeracy, literacy or science-oriented, we should think about their attention span. They can only concentrate on what will not be too long to assess and must be actively engaging.

“So, in terms of the number of hours, you have the morning and perhaps the afternoon session. The morning starts from 8:00am to about 11:00am then afternoon session may end at about 1:30 pm. That is the maximum you can give them in school. Any other thing after that must be something that would make them relax or play.

“When you give them homework, it is to keep them busy and prepare them for the next day work. Any other thing after the time mentioned, would be poor concentration and that is why extracurricular activities are in afternoon. And numeracy and literacy classes in the morning for them to have good concentration.”

Although the UN recommended that school resumes by 8:30 and closes by 2:30, the length of schools’ daily classroom time varies considerably across countries, ranging from four hours and 30 minutes to 10 hours. This, no doubt, helps to provide insight on the diverse educational practices and cultures globally.

For instance, Taiwan leads with pupils spending 10 hours averagely in schools daily. Taiwan is followed closely by China with pupils staying in school for academic works for about nine hours and 30 minutes each day.

In Europe, pupils in France stay in school for eight hours daily for academic activities. Russia, Spain, and Mexico align with six hours school day, offering a balance between academic pursuits and other aspects of student life. Italy offers a slightly shorter day at five hours and 30 minutes. Finland and Brazil known for their progressive educational systems, average five hours school day, focusing on efficiency and student well-being.

Germany presents the shortest average school day, with pupils spending only four hours and 30 minutes in school. In the United States and Kenya, the school day averages seven and 30 minutes, while schools in the United Kingdom maintain a seven hours school day.

Pupils in Canada and Australia attend school for six hours and 30 minutes and six hours and 15 minutes, respectively daily. Despite the long hours pupils spend in school, many of them still come home with loads of home works.

Reviewing this, Oladipo maintained that it is overburdened when pupils are given plenty work to do which is not the best way to engage them.

“So, when some parents complain that they are overburdened it is the plain truth. So, schools should make it a maximum of 6 hours for academic work, and anything beyond that would be extracurricular.” On her part, Obinaju said a child can learn from 7:00am to 7:00pm though it must be built around play.

“It must be enjoyable activities devoid of the old ways where a teacher is always holding cane.” She also felt that schools are loading pupils with long hours of academic activities as part of marketing strategy.

“Is it not the parent that would say this school is not teaching, let me take my child to the other? Then the school will have to load the child to let the parents see that they are working. So, it is a marketing strategy.” 

Of note is that from psychological perspective, it is said that if a child can only focus for five minutes, that may be entirely age-appropriate. This is because the average attention span durations for each age group are two years old: four to six minutes; three years old: six to eight minutes; four years old: eight to 12 minutes; five-six years old: 12-18 minutes; seven to eight years old: 16-24 minutes; nine to 10 years old: 20-30 minutes; and 11-12 years old: 25-35 minutes. Although every child is different, some children fall outside of that spectrum.

Professor of Early Childhood Education at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ajayi Hannah Olubunmi, noting that aside from the long academic activities being too packed for their brain, said brain scientists stressed the brain also needs to rest.

“So by making them stay so long in school occupied with one activity or the other, surely stresses their brain. The parents that are complaining that they are burdened with long academic works in schools, when the children get home they still hire private teacher to take them. After spending about nine hours in school, they still come home to meet the private teacher who spends another 2 to 3 hours with them.” She wondered what time do the pupils have to rest, maintaining that they need to rest emotionally.

“The brain needs to rest. Physically, they need to rest. In the boarding school, if you look at their schooling process, some will not resume school until 9:00am and by 12:00pm, or thereabout, they must have ended the day’s activities and the hours the children spend in school is not going to be academics alone on their timetable there would be time to rest for like an hour, or so, and by the time they wake up, they feel refreshed  and any other activity given to them at that time, they’d be able to participate.

Apart from nap time, the children will be engaged in other activities not intellectual activities alone. The system here actually needs the government to come and intervene. So having children go to school by 7:00am, and closing by 4:00pm is not appropriate at all. It is affecting them emotionally, mentally, and in all aspects even socially. So, the government should wake up and see to it that we have good policing in education.”

She added that parents needed to be wary of the effects of packing activities for their children for the whole day. According to her, parents who burdened children with long academic works after school need to be sensitised.

“Also, parents need to know that their interaction with these children will go a long way in developing the children appropriately.”
The long hours for academic works, whether at school and home, eat deeply into the time that should be use for physical activities by children. The irony is that the time allotted for break and recess during school hours in most private schools is not used for physical exercise.

This is mainly because many private schools these days have limited space for physical exercise if they have any at all. As a result, many pupils who are expected to go for recess during break period often end up spending the time in class without engaging in any physical activities.

Yet, the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America said toddlers need at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity per day, and preschoolers need about 60 minutes of structured physical activity per day.

Both groups should have at least 60 minutes of additional unstructured physical activity daily. Because early childhood is crucial for physical development, children should be encouraged to have active lifestyles.

SHAPE America also recommended that school-age children should accumulate at least 60 minutes and up to several hours of physical activity per day while avoiding prolonged periods of inactivity.

No wonder, Professor of Exercise and Physiology at Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Olufemi Adeogun, said parents are either wrongly informed or not properly guided because many of them feel that any attempt of getting pupils involved in recreational activities is a waste of time.

“They assumed that they must be in class 24 hours which is not right. You can’t be mentally developed if you are not emotionally stable. What brings about emotional stability in children it is when they exercise themselves, run around, and enjoy themselves.

“Also, studies have shown that recreational activities boost the immune system and help the brain including making one attentive and alert. But parents don’t want this; they want them to study from morning till night.

“I have seen a parent who registered two to three lessons for her child. Once she closes at 3:00pm, the teacher comes and another comes by 5:00pm and closes by 7:00pm. You must allow pupils to enjoy themselves and recreate but like I said, our parents don’t understand what the children need to do to develop.”

Adeogun noted that the way learning is structured in most schools is not encouraging, stating that pupils are not allowed to develop themselves in terms of psychomotor.

“It is compulsory that you allow pupils to play. If they don’t have enough time to recreate, academic performance will dwindle.

“We have this adage that says ‘all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy’. The adage is not just for the fun of it. There must be a perfect combination of working and playing. For a child who needs to sharpen his or her brain, there is need for a combination of play and work activities.” 

He, however, observed that majority of private school owners don’t have the interest of children at heart, as they are strictly businessmen and women who want to please the parents at the expense of the doing the right thing.

“They don’t believe that you must mix pleasure with business. They believe that it must be business and business. They assume that once the children are overwhelmed with work, when parents hear it, they will be very happy. But what they are doing to please the parents is not in the best interest of the children.”

Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, maintained that public schools close officially by 2:00pm but there was a period in Lagos that closing time was extended by one hour, which was meant for pupils to cultivate reading habit and engage in extra-curricular activities.

He, however, noted that some public school teachers would not teach within the school hours but fall back to the one hour to organise lessons, which is not right, warning that the state government will not tolerate it.