FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Young children suffering due to being pushed too hard in school: psychiatrist

Young children suffering due to being pushed too hard in school: psychiatrist

MANY young children suffer from being pushed too hard to study at school, a problem that could lead to improper development and behavioural issues, a child psychiatrist has warned.

Dr Benjaporn Tuntasood, who is based at Manarom Hospital and runs the child psychology fanpage “Kendekthai” on Facebook, said more children were now studying too early and too much. 
“I have observed that not only do many children enter school at very young ages, sometime only two years old, but they are also made to study very hard on difficult academic lessons. This is not good at all for the development of young children,” Benjaporn said.
“Many children I talked with faced similar problems of stress from studying. The worrying thing is that my little patients are getting younger. It is very hard for children to tell anyone that they are stressed, so they represent it by bad behaviour, sleeping disorders or regressive behaviour.”
She pointed out that pressure from parents and teachers who want their children and pupils to excel academically also has an adverse effect on their kids. When they struggle with difficult lessons, the can become anxious and depressed, losing their self-confidence.
“Stress from studying too hard and too much among young children can have a long-term effect, and cause problems when they grow up,” she said.
According to the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), the current curriculum for primary school students has been in use since 2008. The core syllabus includes eight fundamental subjects – Thai, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education, art, technology, and foreign languages.
The average study time for primary pupils was 800 hours per year, but no more than 1,000 hours per year.
However, Benjaporn believes that young children aged between two and six should learn according to the development of their age, rather than in a rigid classroom setting.
“The nature of brain development is that children will learn from the things around them by using their senses and then will move on to more complex things,” said Benjaporn. “Therefore, learning for children should start from letting them exercise their bodies and play in nature to learn from the environment around them.
“As well as learning life skills, parents and teachers should also teach children social manners, responsibility and discipline, which are also important things for children to learn to become quality citizens in the future.” 
OBEC deputy secretary-general Payom Chinnawong admitted that the current curriculum was too heavy and would soon be amended to soften the lessons for primary school students.
“In the next curriculum, primary school students will only have to learn what is really important such as languages, mathematics and science, to prevent them studying too much. Also, lessons in some subjects will be easier to suit their study pace,” Payom said.
He said the Education Ministry was aware of the over-studying problem and a “Moderate Class, More Knowledge” policy was adopted last year. 
Sirinthip Ngamrabieab, the mother of nine-year-old Prathom 4 (Grade 4) student Mhook, said she often helped her son with his homework and found it difficult, although studying did not make her son unhappy.
“I remember that my homework when I was a Prathom 4 student was not that hard. It just seems today’s students are learning very fast. I have heard about children being unhappy with their study because the lessons are difficult and parents put pressure on them, but Mhook doesn’t have that problem,” she said.
Sirinthip said she encouraged her son not to get too stressed with academic performance, but to focus on the things he was good at. She was happy to support him in enhancing his favourite skills. “Many parents just want their children to have good grades, but that is not for me. Education in school is not everything. I want my son to be happy and grow up well. I think this is what matters,” she said. 

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