EENET asia Newsletters : Fifth issue 4th Quarter 2007 / 1st Quarter 2008

Case Study: A Problem Situation and A Request for Advice

Though it is difficult to provide advice in situations where we do not know the child (or children), the school or the country’s education system and policies, readers may have good suggestions in terms of resources to read or practical ideas to try out. The story below is real (though names of mother, child and school have been erased for privacy sake) and raises interesting questions around the issue of keeping children back/repeating classes and doing this even with young children in pre-primary education.

I am a mother of a 4 and a half year old girl, student of a nursery class at an elite school in Lahore (Pakistan). My daughter was doing pretty well in her playgroup and was even presented the Excellence Award at the end of the year. In her next year at almost the end of the academic year in Nursery Class she was made to stay after school hours for remedial teaching with 8 to 10 other kids out of a class of 32 students.

At our parent-teacher meetings we were told that she is going a little slow. The remedial teaching however has been fruitless; instead my daughter was off from her studies. On the other hand she started doing very well at home with our attention. My husband and I requested for the remedial teaching to stop and as a result our daughter was only conditionally promoted to Kindergarten.

I just want to know whether remedial teaching suggested for 4 to 5 year old children and keeping them back at school for late hours is considered a sound educational procedure. This is such a sensitive age group and children may just need a little more attention and support. What is done in such cases in other parts of the world?

EENET-Asia would like to invite readers to respond to this case study with their advice and suggestions at asia@eenet.org.uk

EENET asia Newsletters : Fifth issue 4th Quarter 2007 / 1st Quarter 2008