When we attended Primary Primary School, most schools closed around
1 pm to 2pm.
Fathers were busy on 9-5 jobs
Most mothers were full time housewives or having their trades either in shops not too distant from the house or attached to their houses.

Many children went home after being properly drilled by teachers,able to their own Homework by themselves or got the assistance of older siblings,uncles, cousins,nieces or nephews.
That was in the 60s, 70s and early 80s.
Children rested well after school, played and also studied under some form of informal supervision. Those mothers asked for moderate homework for their children.

They were more present parents and when not present ,they relied on the whole village ,the people in the same compound to co raise their children. That came with it's pros and cons in terms of either genuine support or mild to horrible abuse of the child!

As we approached the mid and late 80s we witnessed the emergence of another generation of parents, especially mothers.
Super amazons who were more graduates than we had in the earlier decades.. now more mothers had to join the 9-5 work regime with their husbands. All closing by 4pm and working far from home and the school which their children attended.

Then came a torrent of requests to schools from this new crop of mothers , they were asking the school to keep their children for longer than 2pm ,infact some wanted the school to keep them till 6 pm when they would have closed from work.
With that came extra lessons, extra extra lessons and loads of homework.

The mothers got angry if teachers did not load the children up with more than enough homework daily and for weekends too.
They must have enough that will occupy them ,mothers too have to rest! Keeping the children busy is a must for these mothers.
In all of this , the schools asked to be incentivised in extra fees and mothers who were not working moms in terms of 9-5 were either coerced howbeit in a subtle manner to also pay for the extra extra lessons!
So that category of mothers who could easily take their children from school by 2pm began to either indulge themselves, dumping their children in those extra extra lessons instead of filling that gap at home until schools made those extra lessons mandatory for all learners.

Today, it is obvious who the real victims are in all of this challenging developments.

The real victims are those hapless children who have lost quality rest time , quality bonding time with parents and are under heavy performance pressure from parents and teachers!

Some respond in becoming irritable , easily distracted , absent minded and some even becoming deviant !

Children wake up by 5am , leave home by 6: 40 am , get home by 4:30 - 5 pm ,tired ,worn out eat , sit down to face their load of homework.
Home lesson teachers continue from where the school extra ,extra lesson teachers stopped! I pity the Nigerian child.

Now it is difficult to reverse all of the above because of the realities of our social economic environment but can we begin to ask questions and brainstorm on how we can ease this burden on our little ones ?

The boarding schools came to the rescue,while some are excellent, many are mere remand homes masquerading as boarding schools.

Full housewives are also enjoying the indulgence or coercion of keeping their children in the extra ,extra lessons!

How do we begin to address the very sweet opportunity of incentive by way of lesson fees to school and teachers?

I need your opinions dear friends.

©Akin Benjamin is an Education Consultant based in Lagos Nigeria.
30th Oct 2023

All these started with the advent and proliferation of private schools!
Modern day mothers have failed their children.
A gross form of child abuse going on in the country right now.
I worry about the next generation.