China sets minimum sleeping hours for primary, secondary students

China has laid out minimum requirements on sleeping (睡眠 shuìmián) hours (时间 shíjiān) for primary and secondary students to curb sleep deprivation which can impair health (健康 jiànkāng).

Health experts have suggested that primary school pupils should get a minimum (最少 zuìshǎo) of ten hours of sleep a day, while junior and senior high school students shouldsleep no less than nine and eight hours per day respectively.

However, many parents say that it has been difficult for their children to get enough (足够 zúgòu) sleep due to several reasons, including the overload of homework (作业 zuòyè).

Students learn sleep knowledge under the guidance of their teacher at Nancheng Central Primary School in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province on March 18, 2021. [Photo: VCG]

A survey conducted in ten provincial-level regions in China showed that primary school pupils log an average (平均 píngjūn) sleep duration of 9.5 hours a day, while secondary school students log 8.4 hours, both less than the recommended amount.

Jiang Fan with the School of Medicine under Shanghai Jiaotong University says a lack of sleep not only affects children's academic performance but also their physical and mental health.

Education authorities recommend (推荐 tuījiàn) that the bedtime for primary school pupils should be no later than 9:20 p.m., while the time is 10 p.m. for junior high school students and 11 p.m. for senior high school students.

Some officials say the excessive curriculum burden is one of the factors affecting students' sleep.

Lyu Yugang with the Ministry of Education is calling on schools to control the amount of homework assigned to students.

The education ministry also takes into account two other factors affecting students sleep, namely off-campus training (校外培训 xiàowài péixùn) and video games (游戏 yóuxì).

It orders that offline after-class training classes should end before 8:30 p.m., while online courses should end before nine p.m., and neither of them is allowed to assign homework to students.

Management will also be tightened to ensure that no online gaming services are available to juveniles between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. the next day.

Key word 重点词汇：

睡眠 sleep

E.g. Nǐ dǎjiǎole wǒ de shuìmián.

你打搅了我的睡眠。

You disturbed my sleep.

Tā shuìmián bùzú.

他睡眠不足。

He didn't get enough sleep.