Early childcare, education as foundation for national development .

ALMOST on a daily basis, Nigerians are assailed by the shocking reality of the disturbing falling standard of education and the inability of a large proportion of the masses to afford basic education for their children.

Education, experts posit, remains the bedrock of the development of any nation; youths, and indeed, children are the hope for the development of any nation.

Early childcare/education is therefore a sine qua non for the sustainable development of a nation.

According to the erudite scholar and Head, Department of Psychology, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Kayode Oguntuashe, early childcare/education is foundation of Nigeria’s development.

The professor of Psychology underscored this position in his inaugural lecture entitled: “Early Childcare and Education as Foundation for the Holistic Development of the Nigerian Society,” held recently at the Main Auditorium, UNILAG.



The occasion had in attendance Prof. Tokunbo Sofoluwe, Vice-Chancellor, UNILAG; Prof. Soga Sofola, former DVC, UNILAG; Prof Akin Oyebode, former VC, University of Ado-Ekiti; Prof Olatunde Makanju, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, UNILAG; Prof Duro Oni, Dean, Faculty of Arts, UNILAG among other principal officers of the institution, friends, colleagues and students of the lecturer. It was a capacity audience that witnessed the lecture.

For about one hour, Oguntuashe held guests spellbound with his presentation that was marked intermittently with resounding applause given the depth and eloquence of his presentation.

He underscored the relevance and significance of the topic with a quote from the United States President, Barack Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope: “Our task is to identify those reforms that have the highest impact on student achievement, fund them adequately ... a more challenging and rigorous curriculum with emphasis on math, science and literacy skills; early childhood education for every child, so they are not already behind on their first day of school. .. and the recruitment and training of transformative principals and more effective teachers.”

He recalled how his early exposure to books, especially Sanya Onabamiro’s (1949) Why Our Children Die made the deepest and most lasting impression on his young mind.

According to him, because Africans have always placed a high premium on children as resources, the various health campaigns and programmes of the Ministry of Health at that time did not exclude the child.

“Children,” Oguntuashe said, “were inoculated against childhood diseases like small pox, measles etc. Parents were encouraged to boil and sieve water before drinking it, streams were demarcated into bathing, laundry and drinking zones to avoid contamination and children were warned not to wade in guinea-worm infested waters.

“Many of these precursors of primary health care were contained in the good old book popularly called Evans hygiene. Beyond Evans, information on the nutrition and general care of infants and children was put out to mothers, parents and other members of the community using different delivery modes, but the emphasis was on prevention of diseases and the survival of the child.”

He added that all of this was laying a strong foundation for his vocation and career as a developmental psychologist.

The professor noted that the uniqueness of man is to be understood not only in terms of his biological constitution but more importantly as a creator of society and culture and the great institutions contained therein.

He argued that in the process of creation, man himself becomes recreated. Hence, an intricate and inseparable relationship binds the two, such that whatever impinges on one is bound to affect the other.

“Conceived in this manner, man becomes the most important factor in development and so his own development becomes crucial to the development of society. This conception transforms man into a resource for societal development and since the ‘child is father to the man’, then it means that child survival as opposed to child development would have different implications for society. Herein lies the rationale for shifting the paradigm from survival to development.”

Citing examples from research findings, he explained the growth, development and significance of early childcare and education to development.

Interpreting early childcare and development as a multidisciplinary enterprise with components from Infant Stimulation, Health, Nutrition, Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Law, Anthropology, Gender Studies, Women Development and Child Development, the erudite scholar cited efforts made by Nigeria towards early childcare.

“After 20 long years of strong and sustained advocacy which included setting up pilot ECD (Early Childcare Development) centres, building the capacity of implementers, resource mobilisation, curriculum development, setting up steering committees at federal and state levels, building partnerships between international agencies, private sector and NGOs; the Federal Government finally adopted a National Policy on Integrated Early Child Development in 2007,” he said.

The objectives of the ECD policy in Nigeria,according to him, include to provide care and support that will ensure the rights of the child to good nutrition, healthy and safe environment, psycho-social stimulation, and protection and participation; inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and playing with toys; provide adequate care and supervision for children while parents/guardians are at work; effect a smooth transition from home to school; prepare the child to adapt successfully when his current context changes; and develop a healthy, well-nourished, adequately stimulated child who is able to achieve his full potential.

The objectives are, Oguntuashe asserted, firmly anchored in the Convention on the Rights of the Child particularly Article Six which states that a child has a right to develop to “the maximum extent possible. It emphasises the total development of the child through two major instruments, Health and Nutrition on the one hand and Physical, Social and Psychological Stimulation on the other.

The professor of Psychology posited that with the current shift in emphasis in the United Nations programming from Economic Development to Human Development, it is clear that child development should be the starting point of our intervention in human development.

Stressing the benefits of investment in early childcare and development, he said the social and economic pay off is significant.

“Children whose early life development receives support are more productive in later life. They repeat classes less often in primary school, they complete primary school more often, they require less remedial programmes and they are less susceptible to truancy and criminal tendencies. (UNICEF, 1998 Mwaura, 2010). Therefore, investing in ECD appears to be a rational way to tackle the massive failure rates that we observe in our children’s performance in the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE).

“Candidates who had five credit passes including Maths and English in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 were 19.24 per cent, 20.27 per cent, 23.62 per cent and 29.93 per cent respectively (WAEC 2010). Building 40 universities alone is not the answer. In the short term, expanding the capacity of existing universities would absorb the 12-15 per cent of candidates who pass five subjects at credit level at one sitting. However, a long term and much more effective approach would begin at the beginning by investing in Early Child Development (ECD).

“Investing in ECD facilitates the attainment of social and gender equity by providing a robust base from which children from deprived backgrounds, children with special needs, girls and others who encounter discrimination can draw on in later life.

“Early life intervention enables the child to bond not only with his/her parents but provides an important point of entry into the child’s community. This of course prepares the ground for social mobilisation, civic engagement, participation, patriotism and the like. Does this not put the logic of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) on its head? Does this not suggest that national orientation is best done in early childhood when attitudes, dispositions and tendencies are still malleable?

“Results of recent research show that providing children with varied perceptual and motor experiences at an early age affects positively the structure and organisation of neural pathways in the brain during the formative period, favourably affecting learning of all kinds later in life.

“Improvement in early childhood care and development means an improvement in other programmes that are integrated with it, such as Maternal and Child Health (with attendant reduction in maternal and infant mortality/morbidity).

“Early Childhood Care and Development Centres can be used as vehicles for fostering integration and harmony among ethnically and religious diverse groups as children quickly learn to accommodate one another without prejudice to these factors as well as others like physical challenges. Malaysia has exploited this medium to a great advantage,” Oguntuashe said.

His engagement and preoccupation with early childcare and development are not without sacrifices. This comes in the form of his contribution to the course through research, advocacy and the role he has played in the implementation of the IECD policy in Nigeria.

His Ph.D. thesis at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1980 explored the role that question-asking plays in the communication of 3 to 5 year-old Scottish children.

He also outlined Nigeria’s score-card on ECD. This includes baseline surveys carried out in 19 out of 36 states; textbook on ECD produced with an accompanying simplified text on “Caring for the African Child;” development of Growth Monitoring Chart; Development of a 23 page pre-school reader series; inventory and publication of ECD Facilities and Key Household Practices (KHP) in Nigeria; establishment of ECD Centres in all states of the federation; and development and production of National Minimum Standards for ECD Centres (NERDC/UNICEF, 2004).

Others include development of ECD Curriculum for In-Service Teacher Training (National Teachers Institute); inclusion of IECD principles, theories and practices in the ECE Curriculum of Colleges of Education (COE); establishment of IECD Minimum Standards for Colleges of Education by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE); creation of IECD Centres for children aged 3to 5 years in existing public schools in the 2004 National Policy on Education; adoption of a National Policy on IECD (November, 2007); development of Guidelines for the Implementation of National Policy on IECD (FME/UNICEF).

curtesy: Tony Okuyeme

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