Let children fall in love with learning through play

In recent years, education in Singapore has become extremely challenging and the standard of work that is expected of primary-school children is higher than in the past.

A few months ago, a photo showing a primary-school pupil’s maths question went viral on social media and many netizens commented that they were unable to solve it. Most of the remarks were of disbelief at the difficulty of the question.

In addition to schoolwork, these children usually have extra classes, co-curricular activities and tuition, and their parents probably put a lot of pressure on them constantly to do well in school.

The academic burdens that the children have to shoulder may be too much for them to handle at such a tender age. According to a Channel NewsAsia segment on May 8 last year, an Institute of Mental Health expert reported that one in 10 children aged six to 16 have mental-health disorders. There may be more cases that have gone unreported, which is worrying.

We really should value holistic education more and put the focus on imparting life skills to students when they are young.

We should let these children be children — let them play and discover and, in the process, develop a love of learning, instead of focusing on making them learn through books.