With the new education law that came into force on April 11, 2012, the school starting age was moved one year earlier and it was decided that children who are 60 months old should start school. In the circular published in May, the Ministry of National Education stated that the school enrollment of children who have completed 66 months as of September 30, 2012 will be mandatory, and that children who are between 60-66 months on this date will be enrolled in school according to the preference of their parents. Registration for the first grade of primary school will begin on June 1, 2012. Parents whose children are between 60-72 months old are at an important decision stage. Psychological Counselor Yasemin ATEŞ has deemed it necessary to prepare a guiding statement for parents on this issue.
MY CHILD IS 60-66 MONTHS
Psychological Counselor Yasemin ATEŞ sees drawbacks in starting primary school education for children between the ages of 60-66 months in the 2012-2013 season. Because the system change in education was made this year and was implemented immediately. This resulted in the presence of both 60-month-old and 80-month-old children in the same classroom. First graders of the old system and first graders of the new system will be educated in the same classroom. A difference of 20 months is a big difference in childhood. In addition, children aged 60-66 months may not be ready to start school in terms of cognitive (mind) development, psychomotor (muscle) development, social development and emotional development. These children may feel left behind compared to 80-month-old children. For this reason, it may be undesirable for children between 60-66 months to start school. However, if all five of the conditions mentioned below are present in a child, families can consult a specialist and start their child in school.
If your child meets all five conditions, then it may be right to start him/her in school. If your child does not meet one of these items, it would be more appropriate to postpone school registration until next year. Psychological Counselor Yasemin ATEŞ recommends that the decision on this issue be made with the help of an expert and recommends that families take the Metropolitan School Readiness Test for their children.
Misconceptions
As of September 30, 2012, the child is 60-66 years old. Monthly parents may have some misconceptions when starting their children to school. A few of these thoughts are as follows:
- Let my child start school as soon as possible. Let him start early and finish early.
- His brother/sister will also start, let him start with him. Let them go and go together.
- Let's not pay for kindergarten for another year.
- What happened when so-and-so's child started early? He will get used to it over time.
- He gets bored at home. At least let him go to school.
- Our neighbor's child started, let our child start too. Let them go together.
Considering the above considerations, starting their children to school is one of the biggest mistakes parents can make. The most important criterion for starting school is that the child's developmental characteristics support starting school. Starting school early may cause the child to become alienated from school and may result in the child moving away from education in the long run.
MY CHILD IS 66-72 MONTHS
Children who have completed 66 months as of September 30, 2012 will automatically will be enrolled in the first grade of primary school. However, some of these children may not be ready for school due to their developmental characteristics (physical, emotional, mental, psychomotor, social). If you have concluded that your child is not ready for school, based on your observations as a parent or the observations of kindergarten teachers and psychologists, you can delay your child's start to school for one year. First of all, what you need to do is to check your child's developmental characteristics and suitability for school with various tests and observations. Kindergartens around you, RAM (Guidance Research Center) in your district, school psychological counselors and psychologists in schools will help you in this regard. The test applied here If, as a result of tests or observations, it is understood that your child is not suitable for school, then you can apply to the school administration with this test-observation result and petition and postpone your child's starting school to the next year. Even though the test-observation results do not indicate that it is appropriate for your child to start school, if you still want to send your child to school, you will harm him/her.
In summary, the experience of starting primary school is actually the beginning of the educational life for every child. The child will form his first feelings about education and reading in the first grade. Positive and positive first steps taken in this classroom will positively affect children's entire educational life. Wrong steps taken during this period may cause the child to become alienated from education. The duty of families is to make the right decision for their children, accompanied by experts, taking into account the child's development.
Read: 0
