OMM Redaksiyası
The workload and difficulty of textbooks for first-grade pupils have prompted complaints from some parents. They say children who did not attend school-preparation classes and do not yet know all the letters struggle to complete textbook exercises.
“Operative Information Center-OMM”, citing Xəzər Xəbər, reports that one parent wrote in a class group chat that children are expected to know how to read and write before starting first grade.
“The children are going to first grade, and many cannot read. Should a parent study with them? I finished school in 1991. The math book got the better of me; it drove me crazy. I sat down yesterday to do the exercises. Even an adult couldn’t do them. The child can’t write either, and I’m completely stressed,” the parent wrote.
“The book is difficult”
Parents say children who did not attend school-preparation classes in particular struggle to adjust to first-grade lessons.
Some parents said their children had been registered for school-preparation classes but had not actually attended them.
According to the parents, some of these children do not even know all the letters when they start school.
One parent described the textbooks as “difficult” and said their child was having trouble learning to read.
Expert: “There is a wide gap between children in the classroom”
Education expert Sevinc Purkeştasib also says first-grade textbooks and the teaching process are causing concern for some parents.
She said a significant gap emerges in classrooms between children who have attended school-preparation classes and know the letters and those who have not received that preparation.
“Some pupils already know all the letters and can read independently. Their parents are probably informed, and the children have gone through school preparation. Other parents think their child will simply start first grade and everything will happen there. But a wide gap has already emerged between those pupils in the classroom,” the expert said.
Sevinc Purkeştasib said large class sizes may also limit teachers’ ability to work individually with pupils.
The expert said either school-preparation education should be made compulsory or first-grade textbooks should be made simpler.
“Children may develop an aversion to school”
The expert said requiring children who have not attended school-preparation classes and do not know the letters to read complex words could negatively affect their adjustment to school.
She said some children may refuse to go to lessons, cry or show resistance to the learning process.
She added that the psychological impact also needs attention, noting that some children may develop stress, fear and problems with self-confidence.
According to the expert, a workload that does not match a child’s age and level of preparation may push them away from education rather than help them learn.
Institute of Education: “The textbook is a continuation of preschool learning”
The Institute of Education said the first-grade Azerbaijani language textbook was designed as a logical continuation of preschool learning.
The institute said the teaching process is structured around an individualised approach so that children who did not attend school-preparation classes are not left behind.
It noted that the words and texts in the textbook’s first section are not intended for independent reading by pupils who do not yet know the letters.
Instead, the materials are intended to develop oral language, vocabulary and listening skills with the teacher’s guidance, it said.
The Institute of Education said alphabet instruction is completed for all pupils during approximately the first three months of the school year.
Debate over whether first-grade textbooks are too difficult for children continues. While parents want the books to reflect children’s level of preparation, the Institute of Education says teaching is organised in stages and follows an individualised approach.
