Shi Jingshan District of Beijing announced on Tuesday that the school time of the 33 elementary schools in the district would be postponed by half an hour to eight o' clock in the morning from the coming school year to guarantee pupils more sleep.

The district's education commission now is discussing the plan in detail with the 33 elementary schools, setting about to call of the half-hour morning self-study time to start the first class from eight o' clock.

The commission initiated the plan based on a poll carried out last year in the district asking for feedback on its education status.

The poll says about 70.6 percent pupils sleep for nine hours and 26.1 percent get only eight-hour sleep per day on average, compared with at least ten hours per day for pupils designated by the State.

The case for middle school students was even worse: only 58.2 percent get eight-hour sleep per day, the longest enjoyed among their pals, while the State rules middle school students should sleep at least nine hours per day.

"Pupils are running short of sleep and they can't help feeling sleepy in classes. We postpone the school time to instill in them more energy, and, most importantly, to guarantee their physical health," said Wang Lanfang, director of the commission.

But the commission said there was no near such plan in middle schools.

Zhang Yi, deputy to the Municipal People's Congress and deputy head teacher of Beijing Number Five Middle School hailed the plan. The deputy head teacher is reported to have presented the proposal to the Municipal People's Congress as early as 2005.

It is generally believed that early morning is the best time for efficient work and study. Many schools have main subjects like Chinese, English and mathematics for the first and second classes (from around 8 to 9 c' clock). "But it doesn't work that well," Zhang said.

"I have made the comparison. My students act more actively in afternoons than they do in mornings," said Zhang, who teaches mathematics to senior high school students.

Some parents welcome the plan. "My child gets up at six o' clock every day. It is so hard for him," said a mother. "I'd rather have my child do some morning exercise," said another.

Nearly all elementary children cheered at the half-an-hour more sleep.

According to a survey done by some of the Municipal People's Congress deputies, most middle school students get up at six while those who live far away from schools get up as early as five. Road accident occurs frequently on dark winter mornings as students are still half-awake on their way to school.

In response to the initiation by Shi Jingshan, other districts raised possible problems with the plan. The biggest one, as Xicheng and Fengtai said, is that the school time runs into parents' work time so parents would have no time to take their children to school.

"We have many pupils whose parents are migrant workers. Their parents get up as early as seven for work and we can't keep the pupils outside school until eight," said deputy head of Fengtai's education commission.