A friend has been in an argument with me on the need for lesson teachers for her kids and am wondering what the heck! with all the huge school fees of high brow schools, why would I need to employ extra teachers? Please I need to hear other parents' view here.

Its not necessary, all the students in my kid bro class do lessons , while he doesn't do and he always comes 2nd. Beating d others that do lessons

It is very necessary especially when the teacher is from the same school with the pupil,he assists them with their homework and improves them where they are weak with relation to the syllabus of the school.

Lesson jst makes most f em sharpa n busy...de do get busy wen back frm sch n dt helps a lot...wish  gt dt wen  ws a kid...some kids dnt reali need a lesson teacher cz de re gud all by demselves

Most parents actually arrange for extra lessons for deir kids in order to keep dem busy..
Its more abt gettin dem busy and less of learning.

Just haven a flash back of 19 years ago, it rain so heavy that makes mko to order for a cup of hot tea, instead of his normal amala soup, never knew that the tea will be his last, advise for the day, no matter how heavy today rain seem to be dont drink tea at home,sch or office.

I personally don't like it.
I've mixed feeling (I don't know how to put in writing) about it.

Soo_cool: And this is on the frontpage because?

So what would you rather see on the front page?
It is really funny how some of you here complain about issues that make front page just because it doesn't conform to your expectations for "front-page-material" Why don't you just ignore instead of laying an egg over the fact that it makes front page.
Besides this is a social blog and any topic can make front-page as long as it deals with issues that concerns many people.

And to the issue at hand. That a child requires extra lessons should depend on the age of that child. For children between 4 and 10, play is as much a learning process as studying. The brains of kids in this age bracket can only handle so much information and they are easily distracted. Any lesson administered to them beyond their attention spans usually has negligible if any effect, so why then should extra lessons be necessary.
For children who have exams to write, say the Common Entrance, an extra lesson may be needed to adequately prepare them for the exams.
Kids in high school may require extra lessons as most times the allotted lesson periods during school hours is never really enough for the teachers to comprehensively break down their respective subjects. Even then hardworking students will still find time to study and review parts of subjects they do not understand, so that extra lessons may be unnecessary in such situations.

@op, i think it depends on the student(s) in question; how well the child grasps at school and if he needs a little/extra motivation to excel.

Its not necessary joo! The children are already tired after the normal school activities and continuing almost immediately with the so called lesson is just killing. They get home fagged out! I guess its all part of "hustling" by the teachers as in most cases they're the same that give these lessons.

It's very necessary peeps! You can't compare what one learns in a crowd with that of single coaching.

Like me for example, due to my shyness, i find it very difficult to stand-out in class and ask a question but i do that freely with my lesson teacher and that's why i always passed well in those days.

Soo_cool: And this is on the frontpage because?

because you need extra lessons!

It all depend on how one's children are. It's always good to keep them busy with their school work as i helps them to be more focused and be able to take care of most of the areas they are not good with.

Extra Lessons for what again? Seriously, i don't see the need. There's much more to learn outside academics. Send them to school. Give them the best of Education. Teach them about life, values, leadership, integrity, godliness, money, sex, goals, etc. And most importantly, make them know God for themselves. That will do jare. There's more to life, let them explore it..

All d ones wey we read, wetin we dey use am do? Mtcheew!

Send them to music class, or French lessons or sports/ computer lessons

Some parents just do it to get free time

might be necessary before some major exams though, especially in their weak subjects

For a brief period in 2010, my kids used to attend lessons, which extended (could you imagine?) from closing time (01:00pm) until around 3:00pm. This meant they took lunch at school. I was not in Nigeria then and was unaware of this arrangement at that time.

The teachers in the school used to 'strong arm' parents to make them register kids for such 'lessons' partly due to economic circumstances. And the parents that agreed to these extended lessons mostly did so out of ignorance, nonchalance towards their kid's performance/homework; or just plain show-off.

One day, my daughter spilled lunch in school, meaning she stayed hungry until when her mum picked her up by 03:00pm. She was tired and very weak. I called home that evening and asked to speak to her and the mum told me she was tired and weak. I asked why and when I was told about the spilling of the food during the so-called extra lessons, I flipped. No, let me rephrase that: I sparked BIG TIME!

I asked my wife to NEVER make them spend that kind of time in school EVER again. The wife did it because she 'thought' they needed it (I suspect it was because other parents were doing it). Anyway I disagreed with her and asked for evidence of them needing extra help. It turned out (as my wife confessed later) that my daughter actually HATED the lessons to the core. And she was extremely happy (and thanked me profusely) when she was told that I was against it. Later on, my wife still wanted to hire a home lesson teacher. Again, I said no.

In my opinion, the proliferation of lessons are a sign of failure of parenting (e.g. assisting with homework) and the decay in our teaching and learning systems at schools. Lessons are required only when a child has special needs (e.g. slow learner, poor writing skills, etc) or a child has to revise for common entrance. Kids need to play as part of their growing up and learning process. And like markovnikoff001 stated, their attention span (primary school age) is small. I never had the number (or quality) of textbooks that my daughters have today, yet I excelled.

My daughters results are today respectable even though it is widely rumoured that those who come first, second, third usually bribe teachers for positions. Most importantly, I am extremely pleased that their oral, reading, numeracy and aptitude skills are FAR above average. This is what counts at their age.

OP, which level of school children?

T22.

[quote author=msb247]

because you need extra lessons! Lwkmd

Jurity: Its not necessary joo! The children are already tired after the normal school activities and continuing almost immediately with the so called lesson is just killing. They get home fagged out! I guess its all part of "hustling" by the teachers as in most cases they're the same that give these lessons.

I agree with you 200%. Many teachers are using lessons to fleece parents, many of whom are too busy to notice any difference or progress in their kids performance anyway. Lessons are needed only in exceptional circumstances. Alas, it has become the norm, not the exception.

With the educational standard and the degree of mass failure in recent time, i believe it is more than necessary; but then in my opinion i would prefer one who specialize on home tutorial rather than the normal school teacher...

@op, why most parents wil prefer a lesson teacher for their children is because they hardly create time to really supervise thier children@home. The economy situation has made the parents to view the teachers as professional nanny. If a child attends a good private sch & he's given homework each day that's enough if parents on their own part can monitor their children (time for food, nap, play, homework & bed time). As a sch administrator, the only time i recommend extra couching is when the child's ability is below his present class or the parents are too busy to create time for the child or the child is in high sch.

Why not..i can say yes to that a million tyms..

lutha: @op, why most parents wil prefer a lesson teacher for their children is because they hardly create time to really supervise thier children@home. The economy situation has made the parents to view the teachers as professional nanny. If a child attends a good private sch & he's given homework each day that's enough if parents on their own part can monitor their children (time for food, nap, play, homework & bed time). As a sch administrator, the only time i recommend extra couching is when the child's ability is below his present class or the parents are too busy to create time for the child or the child is in high sch.

God bless you for this honest insight. I think administrators (like your good self) can do more to make parents get involved. You should also advice/warn teachers not to exploit parents. If you have to adjust school fees to make teachers more comfortable, this would better for all.

I once told the administrator of my kids school that since most parents were into the 'lessons' (which was more or less officially sanctioned by the school), it means either his teachers were not doing a good job in the normal school hours, or they were poorly paid. And I suggested that the money we parents pay for the lessons should be converted into school fees - which should go into salaries. because clearly, there is a link between lessons, salaries and quality of teaching. If the money spent on lessons can be channelled towards teacher welfare, the teachers would have improved salaries (better motivation, less economic pressure), the quality of teaching during school hours will increase (better performance from students overall) and the kids would have more time to play (enhanced quality of childhood). A win-win situation for all three stakeholders (teachers, kids, parents).

With a good teacher in school, a kid who does his/her homework (with the help/involvement of parents) does not need anything more than Sesame Street (oops, wrong generation) - or Barney - abi wetin dem dey call dat purple thing that sings and dance these days?

Would love to hear your take on this, Lutha.

smartmom: A friend has been in an argument with me on the need for lesson teachers for her kids and am wondering what the heck! with all the huge school fees of high brow schools, why would I need to employ extra teachers? Please I need to hear other parents' view here.

It depends on the schools syllabus, the pace at which your child is learning and the environment of the school.

It's better to find a school that covers all your educational requirements but if not parents will need to supplement the childrens education with extra tuition.

I don't see anything wrong with it, it's not as if the child has to moonlight as a truck driver. The child has time and a nice young vibrant mind to learn with. Why not teach him/her as much as you can before he/she starts to rebel! lol

steph7: Its not necessary, all the students in my kid bro class do lessons , while he doesn't do and he always comes 2nd. Beating d others that do lessons

may be he will come first with extra lessons

Billyonaire: may be he will come first with extra lessons

thats what i was thinking, one schools first is another schools last. I don't think parents should ever be content with class position. Its incredibly deceiving.

There should be an average that you can weight your kids potential against, and if he/she is reading fine at his/her grade you move them up to the next one. I don't think it's possible to overwhelm a child with knowledge! lol never heard of it!

@drzed, the fault is neither the teachers nor sch mgt if your kids attend standard private sch. The parents are the cause of this so called 'extra lesson' and they are paying for it big time! It is our delight and obligation to see our pupils/students excelling in their academics thesame way our parents want to see them. To achieve this, the sch mgt will hire well qualified and experinced teachers and charge the parents for it. The pupils/students are carefully and effectively taught base on the needs of each child in normal school hours and assignment is regularly given to keep them busy with proper monitoring by the parents at home for the pupils not to over play and forget what was taught in sch for the day. But quite unfortunate to see some parents withdrawing their children frm such a standard sch because their friends' or neighbours' children attend sch where extra lesson is adopted into the sch programme as a result of inability to meet up with the normal sch calender, poor staffing or exploitatn. In order to avoid loosing children to the substandard schs, the afore-mentioned sch mgt will find away of pleasing the parents by adopting extention classes into the sch programme which also attract additional fees.

Xtrer lesson is nothing but naija mentality.

As a teacher, i would say that most kids need extra lessons. In a typical class, apart from the gifted students(few), u discover that others barely grab what is taught for two major reasons 1. The teacher must complete the syllabus within 12weeks with holidays, and extracurricular activities inclusive. Hence no time to give any student particular attention in class. 2. Wit h a salary of less than 25k, what do u expect? My advice is that parents should take notice of subjects their kids dont do well, then go to ask how much the teacher earns. Finally, never rely on your kid's grades, thats rubbish. I've taught in schools where the only grades that exist is 1st to 8th position.(thats just a way to keep students). So if u have the means, pls employ a home tutor for your kids.