Parental Pressure: Rethinking Over schooling in Nigeria Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Early Childhood Education (ECE) plays a critical role in shaping the young children's development and preparing them for future success. Overschooling in Nigeria’s childhood education has sparked serious issues and concerns among stakeholders in education that require urgent attention. In this work, the relevant aspects that contribute to overschooling in early childhood education discussed are concept of overschooling in childhood education, parental involvement, supportive versus stifling , the lost value of play, the emotional cost of overschooling, policy contradiction, play-based curriculum versus parental pressure, The pertinent factors responsible for overschooling in childhood education are parental aspiration and pressure, the influence of private schools, an exam- oriented education system, policy practice gap, teacher and school practices and peer and community influence. Consequently, the effects of overschooling in childhood education in Nigeria are a creativity deficit, curriculum distortion, fatigue from long hours of study and homework, denial of play and leisure, limited peer interaction, anxiety, and stress and reduced curiosity. The paper concluded that overschooling in early childhood education in Nigeria has affected the children's learning patterns and derailed from the National Policy of Education. Recommendations offered in this article include Nigerian parents need to support their children’s education and champion a holistic milestone play rest, schools should be monitored to tune down the level of workload they give to children that results overschooling, policy makers and other stakeholders in early childhood education should help enforce the ECCDE guidelines adequately while parents should learn to appreciate the efforts their children initiate as they learn at different pace