Bid to ensure kids can get 10 hours' sleep every day

THE EDUCATIONAL authority in Changsha, capital city of Central China's Hunan province, has changed the start time for schools from 8 am to 8:30 am. It has also instructed primary schools to adjust their hours to ensure children are able to get 10 hours' sleep and one hour of exercise. It has also instructed schools to reduce the amount of homework children have to do each day. Beijing Youth Daily commented:

The adjustment has been made according to statistics that show 85.6 percent of the pupils surveyed get up between 6 am to 7 am and 94 percent of them sleep for less than 10 hours a night.

The instruction from the local education authority has been seen as a bid to remove the burden of too little sleep and too much homework from the students as research has proved that a lack of sleep has negative effects on growing children.