THE ROLE OF IYA KAA IN THE YORUBA PRE-COLONIAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: A TEMPLATE FOR DAY CARE CENTRES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The Yoruba educational system has provisions for the care of the young ones even before the advent of western education or formal education. An experienced woman is placed in charge of the young ones, she is known as Iya Kaa. Iya Kaa is the title given to a woman who is a specialist in the care of children, she is in charge of the children until the arrival of Parents from farms. In recent times, the number of full-time housewives in Africa’s urban areas is on a rapid decline, unlike the previous times in its history, more African women are working paid jobs or running their own small businesses. This has made it impossible for mothers to give sufficient time for the care of their children and have no option but to seek the services of Day care centers. However, some of these centers have been alleged of exposing the children placed in their care to detrimental acts such as kidnapping, physical abuse, child labour and sexual abuse in some cases. Hence, this paper examines the role of Iya Kaa in the Yoruba pre-colonial educational system and its impacts on the children vis-à-vis the Daycare systems operated in the present society. Also, the paper traces the emergence of Day care centres in Nigeria. This paper also looks into the operation of some selected DayCare centres with the aim of understanding their curriculum and activities. This paper employs a qualitative method for its data collection through interviews and text analysis. This paper submits that government should take proactive roles in establishing these Day Care centres in terms of proper licensing and monitoring by assigning education administrators who should pay unscheduled visits to the Day Care centres regularly. Also, owners of Day Care centres should not see their services just as a means to put food on their table but as a service to humanity, bearing in mind that these children are the leaders of tomorrow.

Key Words: Iya Kaa, Yoruba, Pre-colonial, Day Care