Several infant schools have reported having problems with children as young as five who aren’t toilet trained and rely on teachers to get changed.
As one particular school from Walsall, England, warned, there are plenty of kids who lack basic life skills such as knowing how to hold various objects, knowing how to get dressed, communication, and going to the toilet.
Following multiple reports of worried and stressed teachers, the Walsall Council’s portfolio holder for education, Chris Towe, spoke out and condemned the parents for not taking the time to teach their kids basic skills.
“We are talking about five-year-olds here and it is not acceptable,” he said in an interview with BBC.
“I was quite shocked really. If they haven’t got basic skills, how can they be educated? This cannot go on. If it doesn’t stop it is going to get even worse.”
During a Walsall Council meeting, the education expert added:
“Clearly, over the years, many parents have not been taking responsibility in making sure their children are ready for school.”
Defending the situation, a Labour councilor, Diane Coughlan, claimed that the area in which the school in question is located is home to plenty of struggling families suffering from a variety of issues.
“For many parents, school readiness is simply not a priority for them so apart from simply sending a letter what other support will they be given?” she said.
However, studies suggest that many parents are becoming “too busy” to train their kids essential skills such as going to the toilet.
A recent survey conducted by the National Day Nurseries Association and the charity ERIC revealed that as many as 68% of people believed that children during the period of last five years were being potty trained at a later age than their predecessors.
“Schools cannot be expected to act as substitute parents or provide a panacea to all societal ills,” a chief schools inspector, Amanda Spielman, warned in December.
As she added, kids not knowing how to use a toilet make things “difficult for teachers, disruptive for other children and a terrible social impact on the children affected.”
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