The study published recently by the Office of the Commissioner for Children confirmed what we all knew but tried to ignore.

The study, conducted by Dr Valerie Sollars, deals with children’s perceptions on cultural and recreational activities. It is based on a questionnaire conducted among 6,000 children aged seven to 14 in 31 primary and secondary Church, state and independent schools, and therefore gives quite a comprehensive result.

That there is too much academic pressure on children is something that we have unfortunately lived with for many years. People who today are working adults still remember the years when they were part of an education system that laid too much emphasis on examinations, rather than the overall development of a child. The years have passed, but this is still with us today.

Now we are hearing it directly from the children. They have complained that they have little time for activities that go beyond what is known as “learning”. They have complained that they have too little time for physical activities. They have complained that schools do not allow much space for extra-curriculum events.

They said that their so-called free time is not so free, and that this is programmed for them by their parents. It is implied that today’s parents are too occupied with their lives and that they need to fill up their children’s time with other activities to make up for their lack of presence in the home.

This is, of course, a double-edged sword. Because parents think they are doing the right thing in taking their children to ballet or jazz classes, to art lessons and to football nurseries. Many go out of their way and literally spend their evenings running around with their kids from one place to another in order to give them something extra that schools unfortunately do not provide.

Are parents in the wrong in trying to give their children a more wholesome upbringing than schools are providing? Are the children complaining that their parents move mountains in order to help them grow up better through the various art forms and sport, spending hundreds of liri in fees and fuel consumption? Or are their concerns directed at the schools which do not provide them with such activities during the school hours, pushing parents to work even harder to earn more money which they invest in such activities outside school hours? Would the children prefer to spend their evenings and weekends playing on the computer or watching DVDs rather than learning a musical instrument or playing football?

Where the children are 100 per cent correct is that a good chunk of their childhood is being taken up by learning things that they are bound to forget once the examination is over. To do this, many must also attend private lessons in what should be their free time in order to have a better chance to obtain the grades they need.

Again, there are two sides to the coin. On the one hand, parents think they are doing their best to give their children a better possibility to succeed in life; on the other hand, it is true that the competition we live with today is hard and puts undue pressure on the children.

But, perhaps the saddest part of the survey results is that which states that even recreational activities turn out to be a competition among the children. As an example, it was mentioned that nurseries tend to drop children who do not show any promise of becoming good footballers.

This is wrong. First of all, to take this example, children might develop into footballers later than normal. Secondly, even if this is not the case, those children who might not be good footballers might grow up to be good referees, coaches and administrators. By “dropping” them at a young age, apart from the psychological effects this could have on them, what could potentially be other talents will be “dropped” too.