It's early in the morning and the alarm clock has already rung several times. You have to drag yourself out of bed and rush to school. As a school student, this is probably a common experience for you. But thanks to new rules, many students in Zhejiang and Heilongjiang provinces can now stay in bed longer than before. On Feb 23th, the Zhejiang Department of Education published a new guideline that asks primary schools to start school later. According to the guideline, start times could vary among different grades and seasons, with students in Grade 1 and 2 starting no earlier than 8:30a.m. A similar guideline was announced by the education department in Heilongjiang province on Feb 24th. Since the new term began in March, students from all primary and junior high schools have been required to arrive at school no earlier than 8 a.m. And senior high school students are now required to arrive at school no earlier than 7:30a.m. These changes are aimed at making sure students get adequate sleep and enough time for breakfast.
According to a 2016 study, only 54.1 percent of students in Grade 4 slept 9 hours or more a night, while the required sleep time for primary students is 10 hours. These changes have received much praise. “I definitely welcome the move, since this will ensure my son has enough time for breakfast, which is important for his health and growth,” a mother from Hangzhou told China Daily. Pushing back school times isn't unique to China. In the United States, schools in at least 21 states began to start school later in 2017. According to a 2015 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, later school start times could help improve students' health and study performance. Just as Mary Carskadon, a sleep expert from Brown University, US, told The Atlantic, “Everybody learns better when they're awake.”
