On Apr 2, the Ministry of Education website released the “Notice on Further Strengthening Sleep Management for Primary and Secondary School Students”, which specifies three specific changes to the primary students’ schedule: sleep time should reach 10 hours a day, class time should be no earlier than 8.20am, and bedtime should be no later than 9.20pm. “The announcement earlier this month was aimed at getting children to sleep longer,” said a primary school principal. “However, [since]the first-class time has been delayed, the whole teaching arrangement has to be adjusted, so the specific implementation plan needs to be detailed.”
Mapo No. 2 Primary School in the Shunyi District recently adjusted the daily schedule of students in order to implement the “sleep order” recently announced by the Ministry of Education. Students will come to school in three groups under the new schedule:
- Students in grades 5 and 6 are the first to arrive at 7.45am.
- Grades 3 and 4 students then arrive at 7.50am.
- Grades 1 and 2 will arrive at 7.55am.
After arriving on campus, students can do a 30-minute morning exercise and then attend the first class at 8.30am. “Before, all students had [to]arrive on campus by 7.50 and… classes would start at 8am.” says Cui Shu-kun, principal of Mapo No. 2 Primary School. The new schedule received much positive feedback only days after it was launched. “The students, especially, are happy to get more sleep.”
Questions on the new system will inevitably arise, however. Since the starting time for school has been delayed, how will schools be able to guarantee enough class time every day? Will after-school activities be shortened? Cui made it clear that the school would not take away students’ time for physical exercise and extracurriculars. “In addition to 30-minute exercise in the morning, students also have physical education class every day, [and]also sports will be arranged in the time of after-school activities to absolutely ensure children’s physical exercise.”
The schedule will also be flexible according to a students’ special conditions. “Some parents need to be at work early and need to send their children to school earlier.” For these students, Cui said, the school has arranged for teachers to take care of them. “They can use the time to do morning exercises or go to the library for independent studies.”
Homework is also a major factor affecting students’ sleeping time. According to Cui, first and second graders do not have written homework, but only practical tasks such as reading, which are usually completed at school. For other grades, the school will adjust the total amount of homework. “There is a special area on the blackboard for teachers to assign homework. The head teacher will check the homework given by teachers in each subject and adjust the homework if it is found to be too much.”
Mapo No. 2 Primary School is not the only school that is considering a new schedule. A number of schools revealed that after the May Day holiday, they will also start to implement the new schedule and the first class will not start until 8.20am. Other primary and secondary schools are waiting for a unified notice from the education department.
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Images: Baidu Image，Beijing Daily
