Children should start attending nursery school at three years

Dear Editor,
I have a grave concern about brilliant children who cannot access the education system until they are four years old because of how their birthday falls. At present a child attends school at 3 years 9 months; this means that they have to be born three years prior between January and March, so by September of the school year they would be 3 years 9 months; and if born in March, by December they would be the said 3 years 9 months.

If a child is born on April 1, they have to wait until the next school year by which time they would be four years old.  This is hampering our children. I don’t think a day should matter when it comes to our children’s education.
I don’t see this as an effective education system. I strongly believe that our children should attend school at 3 years. As long as they attain age three by Septem-ber of the school year they should attend school.

We should not undermine the children of this country. Many children at 2 years can do so much, ie, identify animals, identify shapes, spell their first names, say their alphabet and identify the letters and objects, and make animal sounds, among other things. When they get into the education system and interact with the other children they develop a lot more capabilities.

I believe we should give this a try and see the outcome after a year. Many parents work with their children and we see the results of spending at least one hour a day with them. So it is very disappointing when our children cannot attend school because they are 3 years 8 months and not 3 years 9 months as expected by the Ministry of Education.

Many parents still need to work with their children because I know how hard it is for teachers to have very slow children in their class when the others are working at a pace.

Yours faithfully,
Dawn Hopkinson