Currently our education system is characterized by a cut throat competition as our children compete for few existing vacancies in high school and tertiary institutions.

It is therefore important that parents start looking for alternative modes of educating their children. For instance, some parents take their five-year-olds for the so called private tuition where children are pushed beyond the limit and made to learn material they are not ready for.

Most of us will fondly remember our childhood in the lower primary level when we had all the freedom to explore and learn all the mysteries of book knowledge. That is where most of us engrossed in a variety of reading material meant for relaxing and at the same time relevant things.

An apt saying,’ All work and no play makes jack a dull boy’ If parents cannot allow their children time to relax, then I am afraid we shall end up with education zombies.

It is true to say that if a child makes it in education and acquires a good job that improves the social-economic status of the family, it is a blessing. But what parents should avoid is pushing their children in to the dark abyss of depression, anxiety and disillusionment.

Why should pupils and students wake up at 4 a.m. and sleep after 11 p.m. doing their homework? What about recreation? Nowadays, I do not see children engaging in creative games that we used to cherish when we were young. It is a rare sight to se children playing an organized game of football, rounders or their own "safari rallies’’

If play is pushed to the background of the educational system, class work will end up being insignificant to the children as their brains will not have developed socially to interpret what they are taught.

Children have now lost the cherished play element while they embark on their academic pursuits. This has resulted in unacceptable situation which we must reverse.

wakhujapheth@yahoo.com