famooz wrote:[quote=MaichBlack][quote=mdudu]
A friend of mine was complaining the other day. Her kid is in class one and is required to go for holiday tuition! At an extra cost of course.
I was also wondering about the same thing- i never went for tuition and i turned out pretty fine. never did baby class A,B and C.............i see kids as young as 4 yrs waking up at 6 too pick up the school bus at 6.30am.......what is going on?!!! then they turn up in class and they are learning about my dad has an ass
Official [MoE] school starts from age 5 - nursery school. Primary school starts at age 6. In fact many primary schools in Nairobi will not enroll your child in class 1 if the kid has not celebrated the 6th birthday by the time term 1 begins in January. Learning in nursery all the way to class 3 starts at 8am and ends at 12.30pm.
That's the idea; but the reality is different due to many other factors.
First; by the time kids turn 2 years of age, the begin to venture outside the house...the so-called "terrible twos". As the approach 3 years, the start getting bored by the house and want to spend more time outside than indoors. But they are still too young to be let out alone.
This leaves parents with two choices: either employ an additional maid, OR enroll the kid in a Day-Care centre.
The second option seems to make more sense because at the Day-Care, there are other children of similar age. The child can begin socialising...
The Day-Care centres need an organised programme of events that will help the kids develop their physical and mental muscles... therefore they get involved in writing and other activities.
This is how the 3 stages of nursery school came into being. Stage three [5yr-olds] is the standard MoE curriculum for pre-school.
Regarding children going to school early; this is a result of shortage of schools and changes in demographics.
You live in area A but you feel that the nearest school to you is not good enough... and, believe me, there are many schools that are actually very bad. The most appropriate school happens to be in area B, 5km away....through Nairobi traffic [which you will invariably add to because of this necessary trip!]
Alternatively, you might find a good school in area A and enroll your child there. But two years down, your social status takes a turn [either better or worse] and you have to move to a new area of the city.
But you child is now in class 2 and it proves near impossible to get a transfer to the school in your new residence.
So you will find kids going to school very early in the morning. However, if you find yourself in that situation, it is important to make sure that you kid gets at least 8 hours of sleep every night.
My kids go to be at 8pm on school nights. This one is not debatable. Even if there is homework and the bus was late, 8pm is always bedtime!
The older one [8yrs] wakes up at 5.30am to be ready for the bus at 6.30am. The younger one [5yrs] at 7am for the bus at 7.45am. Both sleep for more than 9hrs each night and that's enough for them.
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