Early years in life are the most important to the formation of intelligence, personality and social behaviour of a child. The year before a child reaches Kindergarten are among the most critical in his or her life to influence learning. That is why modern societies show serious concern for the education of their young ones by providing needed support to prepare them to succeed later in school (Ejieh, 2006). It is common practice in most societies to make provision for early childhood education programmes of various sorts for children below the official school-going age (usually 6years) mainly to prepare them for education in primary schools (Obidike, 2012).

The Federal Government of Nigeria recognizes the importance of early childhood education in Nigeria and as a result it was given prominence in the National Policy of Education (FRN, 2004) as one of the programmes in the Nigerian educational system. Bagudo (2008) posited that reports across the globe revealed that an estimated figure of one hundred million children, struggle daily for survival in villages and cities, and are exposed to the risks of hunger, poverty, disease, illiteracy and abuses. In support of this view, Mahuta (2007) stresses that the need to address the problems and salvage these children and the next generation of children from these menace, has necessitated the programme of Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE).

Mahuta (2007) also stated that the aim of ECCDE is to foster the proper development of the children, identify and address their problems, harness their potentials, mould their character, enhance their learning, equip them for life, so that their actions are channeled towards positive personal, communal and global development in all ramifications of life.

On the other hand the issue of overtime has become one of the most discussed topics among parents, teachers and guidance in most private schools. The introduction of overtime in most private schools is to add extra learning hours for the students so to improve their academic achievements in various subjects (Kehinde, 2006). The introduction of overtime programmes in most private schools may have a positive effect on the students and teachers in most private schools in Nigeria. It is to this regard that the researcher desired to carry out a study on the effect of overtime on early child education using some selected private schools in Jarling, Taraba State as the case study.

Early child education is a welcome development in Nigeria, the federal government through the ministry of education have put in much effort improve the educational sector by introducing extra hours after school for learning while in some schools they do not observe the extra hours for learning but still the students experiences overtime in school. These students are kids from four (4) years and above; most of them wait for their parents or guidance to come and take them home; most parents out of their busy schedule could not come to get their children on time and the result of this overtime may have significant effect on the academic performance of their children because most children become exhausted and could not do their home work after waiting the whole hours for their parents.

The main aim of the research work is to determine the effect of overtime on early child education in some selected private schools in Jarlingo. Other specific objectives of the study are:

to determine the effect of overtime on child personality development
to determine the effect of overtime on the child psychology
to investigate on the causes of overtime on early child education in some selected private schools in Jarlingo
to examine the role of natural policy in education
to proffer solution to the above stated problem

The study came up with research questions so as to ascertain the above stated objective of the study. The research questions for the study are:

What is the effect of overtime on child personality development?
What is the effect of overtime on the child psychology?
What are the causes of overtime on early child education in some selected private schools in Jarlingo?
What are the roles of natural policy in education?

Hypothesis 1

H0: overtime does not have any significant effect of early child education

H1: overtime has significant effect of early child education

Hypothesis 2

H0: overtime does not affect the child’s psychology

H1: overtime affects the child’s psychology

The study on the effect of overtime on early child education will be of immense benefit to the entire private schools in Jarlingo, the parents, and other researchers that desire to carry out similar research on the above topic as the findings of the study will educate the above population on the overtime, the causes of overtime, the effect of overtime on child, how overtime can be controlled and the relationship between overtime, child psychology and personality development. Finally the study will contribute to the body of existing literature and knowledge in this field of study and provide a basis for further research.

The study on the effect of overtime on early child education will focus on four private schools in Jarlingo, Taraba State.

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

Overtime: keep a child in school beyond the normal school hour

Psychology: Psychology is the science of behavior and mind, including conscious and unconscious phenomena, as well as thought