Education is the process in which a human being is turned into a

responsible man having some onus on his/her shoulders towards

parents & his countrymen. Budging this moral definition we could simply
comment that it is a process of learning.
Education, Primary, first years of formal education. In most countries the
emphasis in the early years is on the core skills of reading, writing, and
simple arithmetic. In the United Kingdom, the National Curriculum
begins at the age of five, and primary schools are required to cover
English, mathematics, history, geography, science, technology, physical
education, music, and art. Some religious instruction is also provided,
and some schools begin to teach a foreign language. In most countries,
elementary education is free and is usually compulsory. In some, for
example, India, children may learn three or four languages.

In England and Wales, children start school at four or five years old,
depending on the policy of the school and the local education authority,
and spend seven years in primary schools before transferring to
secondary school at the age of 11. Topic work covering a wide variety of
subjects continues to play a large part in the primary curriculum.
Traditionally, a subject such as the weather is covered to help children
gain an overall grasp of a number of related elements, such as science,
reading, writing, numeracy, and geography. Most schools also have
discrete lessons in subjects such as mathematics and science.

The first few years of primary education are generally dominated by

learning through play. A classroom corner may be turned into a shop, an
aeroplane, or a spaceship, and the children can role-play, learn new
words, and design and make the so-called “home corner” in art and
technology lessons. Playing with materials such as clay, sand, and water
is important in helping pupils develop fine motor skills. Exercises and
games are also used to develop hand and eye coordination to prepare
children for reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Children with special educational needs, whether they are very able or
of below-average ability, are identified in the first school term and given
extra help by a special needs teacher. Parent volunteers are encouraged
to come into the school to work alongside the teacher.

Discipline varies from one school to another, although, in general, young

children are expected to respect school rules, such as lining up, tidying
up after lessons, and undressing and dressing themselves for physical
education classes, in an attempt to promote independence and
resourcefulness.

The issue of primary school testing has been a subject of much debate
in Britain. In 1991, seven-year-olds sat their first national tests in
reading, writing, mathematics, and science, but these were widely
criticized for being unmanageable, and the science test was dropped for
seven-year-olds in 1994. The remaining primary school tests were
simplified. In 1995, 11-year-olds took the national tests for the first time.

A new scheme of “baseline assessment” aims at assessing children’s

strengths and weaknesses in the first term of compulsory schooling with
the goal of identifying their needs. Over time, parents and teachers can
monitor children’s progress and their schools’ effectiveness from
assessments at the age of 5, and National Curriculum test results at the
ages of 7, 11, and 14 years. Controversial “league” or “performance”
tables at 11 and 16 are designed to allow parents to compare the
progress of their school and education authority with others throughout
the country.

Another matter for debate in the 1990s is the alleged decline in reading
standards, which has never been satisfactorily proved one way or the
other. While some have blamed “progressive” teaching methods, which
use children’s literature rather than graded readers or phonics, others
have argued that there is no correlation, and, in any case, that most
primary teachers use a mixture of methods. Some early years teachers
themselves fear that the demands of the National Curriculum are
preventing them from devoting enough time to the basic skills of
reading, writing, and arithmetic.

A report published on December 8, 1998—the annual State of the

World's Children Report—by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
claimed that about 130 million children between the ages of 6 and 11,
including 73 million girls, go without basic education, with broad
implications for those children's welfare and, by extension, for world
peace and security. Although the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child established
the right to education as a basic human right, more than 850 million
people—about a sixth of the world's population—would enter the 21st
century unable to read or write, UNICEF said. Girls and women comprise
two thirds of the world's illiterate population. The problem is worst in
developing countries, but even countries such as the United States face
problems, such as educational systems that fail to prepare students for
the workforce.

Reviewed By:
Nitish