Souad has long searched for safe alternatives to take care of her child instead of nursery during her work, but she was losing about an hour a day to deliver her child in the morning to her parents’ house and return to take him again in the afternoon over a period of 6 months, as the effects of the Corona virus in Kuwait ravaged the nurseries sector since mid-March 2020 until the beginning of this month.
Souad, who worked from her home for nearly 9 months due to the health precautionary measures imposed by the state following the spread of the Corona virus, talks about her return to work from the office, where she works in the personnel affairs department in a company, and says, “We returned to work from our offices in January 2021. However, the nurseries were closed and here was the confusion, so I was forced to take many vacations and permissions that threatened the stability of my work.” Read also With the return of schools.. the controversy over the feasibility of precautionary measures to confront the Corona virus Schools start the “first year of Corona” Experts: Returning schools has become a necessity.. Distance education is a luxury that is not available to everyone Yemen.. Schools return amid the difficulties of war and Corona virus
Souad is not the only working woman in Kuwait who has suffered from this closure that extended for about a year and a half. There are many cases, some of whom were forced to give up their work, or chose to continue working at home for a lower wage, in addition to the fact that many non-working mothers They are keen to register their children in nurseries as well, for the purpose of education, establishment, and mixing with other children.
Many children who have completed or exceeded two years at the beginning of the Corona crisis were deprived of the experience of nursery in Kuwait, which is the age at which it is recommended for the child to enter the establishment, learning and mixing, according to experts, but the deprivation of some of these children seems to continue even after the reopening of nurseries at the beginning of the month This is due to the new challenges imposed by the crisis on the sector, including high prices to compensate for losses, limited seats to reduce mixing, and the closure of a number of nurseries forever due to the losses they incurred.
Nursery..the child’s other world
Doctor of Psychology at Kuwait University, Khader Al-Baroun, says that the nursery contributes greatly to the development of the child’s personality if he enters it at the right age, due to the social relationships that he will build with his peers and teachers.
He stresses that “the behavior of the child’s mother is different from the behavior of the nanny in the nursery, and here the child’s interaction with someone other than his mother will have a positive effect, especially if the nanny and the teacher are proficient in dealing with children.”
And the Baron indicated that the child develops and builds new habits with his fellow children, and that nurseries pay special attention to the child, who may not receive him to the same extent in school due to the number of students received, stressing that “the nursery teaches the correct pronunciation in Arabic and English, and prepares it well for the school climate.” , explaining importance that child faces new sees away from his family.
A child who did not have the opportunity to enter the nursery school is less compatible in school than his classmates who had this opportunity, according to Dr. Baron, as the child, as soon as he enters the nursery school, discovers another world away from his parents and his home.
Is it possible to assert the importance of the nursery?
For his part, the freelance educational researcher, Mr. Ahmed Al-Khamis, who holds a master’s degree in education from Kuwait University, believes that it is not possible to conclusively assert the existence of educational and behavioral differences between children who entered nurseries and those who did not. Rather, he stressed the importance of looking at the family of the child with whom he is being compared, is it Educated family or modest in science? Stressing that it is relative.
Al-Khamis said that “we cannot be certain of the importance of nurseries for all children, as there are children who are superior to others and have not been registered in nurseries before, and the issue is due to many factors, including the home environment and education within the family.”
He added that the nursery may help some children outperform their peers if the educational environment is not available or the family is not able to provide the appropriate atmosphere for education and education, provided that those children who are compared are at the same level in terms of the ability and capabilities of their families, otherwise it will be an unfair comparison. Scientific, as well as other important factors the capabilities of the child himself.
Al-Khamis confirms that determining the existence of differences between children who went to nurseries and those who did not go should be according to a scientific study with statistically significant differences that prove that those who attended are better, and also this study is prepared according to the factors and conditions of application of the study, citing the presence of great scientific and literary figures that did not have the opportunity to enter custody or did not exist on their time.