A Study of Pre – School Crayon Work (Case Study of Okodee Nursery School, U.S.T)

Education for the young child starts right from birth and its home and community try as much as possible to achieve a desirable, goal in preparing the young child’s mind body and soul for school education. The necessity of this preparation has appropriate resulted in the establishment of pre-schooling institutions. These institutions basically help the children to acquire some if not all, of the required skills for formal education. These basic skills may include visual and auditory perceptions which underlie reading, verbal language, spatial and temporal orientation, general information, familiarity with books, toys, games and the development of sustained interest, curiosity and creativity, there also must be the attempt to engage the child as an active participant in the learning process rather than a passive recipient of information. In an attempt to facilitate the learning process in pre-school children, an organized curriculum must be provided and followed in order to establish a good base for the demand of the more complex experiences of school education.A good and dynamic pre – school curriculum will not only attempt to give the young child the antecedent preparations for formal education but also serve as a foundation upon which colleges for an intensive training of teachers and personnel for pre – schools could be set up. However, despite the realization of the importance of pre – schools and the consequent setting up of these, it is rather discouraging to note that very little is being done to improve the standards of existing pre – schools in terms of curriculum to be used, trained teachers, attendants and textbooks Furthermore, in spite of the universality of certain aspects of some human culture, certain situations are peculiar to particular societies and therefore evaluating a people with tools far removed from their set-up will not yield and better conclusion. Hence the necessities of assessing the people their own environment using the right system approach. It is for the eradication of these lapses in the pre –school education that has prompted this attempt to provide information on Ghanaian pre – school art, compare these with existing finding to throw more light on some aspects of pre – school creative activity. This will help curriculum planners to design suitable art programmes for pre – school education as well as help nursery school teachers to understand at this age can do with crayons.During these early stages in the development of the child there is very little verbal expression. Therefore teachers of such children do not find it very easy relating effectively with them. It can be accepted then that children’s drawings are therefore a means of expressing their ideas, thinking and potentialities. There is therefore the need to value, appreciate and encourage such art. Many of institutions are scattered all over Ghana. Among them is the Okodee Nursery, located at 60 Okodee on U.S.T campus. The school was established in 1980 by Mrs. Irene Abu primarily to cater for children of U.S.T staff members. Initially only two children were enrolled in the school. They were later joined by six others with the number increasing to twenty-five a year later. Presently the school has seventy – five children registered. In 1983 a permanent structure was put up to house the children. In addition to this space for a playground and other essential facilities were provided. The school started with on teacher and assistant but now there are three teachers and an assistant for the three stages or classes. Like other Ghanaian pre – schools there is no planned syllabus and curriculum that is followed in educating the children. However their programmes include teaching numbers and alphabets, speech training, rhymes, story telling, jig-saw, puzzles and art. The school was redistricted with the Ministry of education in 1986. Some of the first products of the school are now in schools like Mfantsipim and Wesley Girls Secondary School.

Source: KNUST