Madam, - Starting school is a critically important milestone in a child's life. Those responsible for his or her welfare - parents, teachers and legislators - have a duty to ensure the child is sufficiently mature to cope with an environment which is new, lonely and deeply challenging.
Sending pre-school children three to six years old to a primary school is wrong. It can and often does damage their personalities by giving rise to daily anxiety. This anxiety is cumulative. Such anxiety will manifest itself in a deterioration in the child's behaviour. Deteriorating behaviour is indicative of a child's unhappiness.
The statutory school-going age in this country is six years. We have no State supported system of pre-school education. Such a system is long overdue. - Yours, etc,
Dr PATRICK RANDLES,
Navan,
Co Meath.