The Cornerstone of Education starts at the Montessori or before

When tackling the Sri Lankan Education debate, we must identify where we should first prioritize and why and go about it in a very carefully planned way.

We are talking about the lives of our Children, and to date we have given scant regard to how we should educate them in the 21^st Century as much of the thinking is still stuck in the 19^th Century from which we have yet to evolve.

It is painfully clear that our debate has been restricted to Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sectors without sufficient investigation into the Montessori stage, which actually sets the stage for future development and leadership.

One only has to read biographies of world leaders to realize that their experiences in pre-school actually laid the foundation for their future success. Whilst this is NOT always the case, if we understand how the brain develops not only whilst in the mother’s womb (theories of pregnant mothers being encouraged to listen to Mozart, as it will help the child’s cognitive skills are abound) but to the impulses after birth, then we will be able to take steps to educate Parents on Post Natal care to help the child develop.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3300946/Children-fully-formed-sense-self-esteem-age-FIVE-researchers-discover.html

The link above shows how much a child’s self esteem, essential for a rounded child, are developed before they enter the Primary, giving them a head start at school, if allowed to develop to their potential.

In a highly competitive world, where it is simply the survival of the fittest, and meritocracy is still allowed to triumph over favoritism in many fields, it is easy to educate parents on simple processes that help develop their child’s skills to enable them to succeed in school.

Bearing in mind the aging population in Sri Lanka, and need to get more productivity from our youth, we will have to find ways to get them to enter the workforce at a much younger age, to carry the burden of the elderly. This can only be done if development (early childhood development practices) starts even earlier than before, and the number of years in school is reduced by at least two years. Therefore the preschool part of Education must enter the Education debate as an integral part, and not as a BIT part!

Sri Lanka has one of the world’s best ante Natal and post Natal care systems, where Midwife Nurses visit rural homes regularly on their scooters. They can be trained as frontline troops to win over the parents to this process.