ABSTRACT
The study examined the importance of early childhood Education on the mental development of children in schools in Yagba west LGA of Kogi state.
Most children these days are not mentally developed due to lack of early childhood education which is mainly given to children firstly by their parents and secondly by their teachers who are also regarded as surrogate parents in the school (Adebesin, 2010). Majority of pupils in primary one in the Nigerian school system, did not pass through the pre-primary schools where children are taught basically through the methods befitting to the children’s learn ability and comprehension in the early stage of life (Oyewale, 2006). Because of this lapse, most children in the primary schools fail to grasp the content of their lessons due to the fact that they started their early education from the stem instead of from the root (Oyewale, 2006).
Also, most of the teachers who are employed to teach at the primary one schools, do not apply the correct teaching methods that are comprehensible to the child, hence most children do not have high academic achievement in the early stages of their primary school education. Due to low mental development of the children, there has been poor academic performance virtually at all stages of our educational system. This is because what a child could not achieve during the early education will be difficult for him/her to achieve at the apex stage of his/her educational life.
This study sets out to examine the importance of early childhood Education on the mental development of children in schools in Yagba west LGA of Kogi state
