A Stress-Free Childhood

By Lu Yan

When the school day finishes at 4 p.m.， Liu Xiao goes home for dinner， but his studies are far from over. After dinner， the 14-year-old middle school student in Changchun， capital of northeast Chinas Jilin Province， goes to his desk and begins his homework. His mother， 38-yearold Zhang Yanjun， watches him as he does his assignments which can sometimes go past 10 p.m. This is very common among Chinese families with children， especially primary and secondary school-aged students.

According to data released at the end of 2017 by Afanti， a Chinese educational technology company， from 2015 to 2017， primary and secondary school students in China spent 2.82 hours fi nishing homework every night on average， which is about three times the global average. The data also showed that 80 percent of primary school students and 90 percent of secondary school students did not go to bed by 10 p.m. due to their heavy workload.

Too much homework is overwhelming not only for children， but for their parents. In another Afanti report， 91.2 percent of Chinese parents have the experience of watching their children do their homework， and 78 percent of parents do it every night. Parents and children have confl icts over issues related to homework in 75.79 percent of surveyed households.

“Watching and ensuring my son finishes his homework gives me a headache，”Zhang told Beijing Review. “He can hardly concentrate as he completes his homework， which is often quite heavy for both him and me， and we can easily upset each other during the process.”

Less homework， more sleep

Alleviating study burdens on students has been a hotspot issue attracting public concern and the governments attention. As early as 1955， the Ministry of Education issued the very fi rst stipulation on reducing the study load for primary and secondary school students. Since then， eight national and more than 100 local regulations have been introduced， targeting many key problems， such as an excessive number of exams and competitions and an inordinate emphasis on students grades.

As one solution， cities have begun to adopt policies where instead of competing for well-reputed schools with grades as the sole criterion， students are dispatched to the next level of schooling in their neighborhoods without having to sit for entrance exams. According to statistics from the Ministry of Education， by February 2017， 90 percent of public primary and middle schools had enacted this policy in 19 major cities.

Local governments and schools have also developed practices to stop homework assignments from depriving children of enjoying leisure and rest time. For example， in early March， Anqing in east Chinas Anhui Province ruled that there should be no written assignments for primary school students in their fi rst two years. The education authority in Hangzhou， east Chinas Zhejiang Province， also passed similar policies， adding that primary school students can refuse to continue doing homework if they cannot fi nish by 9 p.m.， and middle school students by 10 p.m.

Guo Haiying， President of Tianhe District Xian Village Primary School in Guangzhou， capital city of south Chinas Guangdong Province， said that his school requires teachers from different disciplines to coordinate with each other to make sure students take less than one hour of assignments home with them every day.

“It may take some students longer to finish than others， but we recommend parents let their children rest if they cannot fi nish homework by 9：30 p.m.， and then later check with their teachers to see where the problem is，” Guo told Ecns.cn.

Addressing cram schools

Besides reducing homework for students， regulating cram schools has also been a priority for the government. A number of these schools lack qualified teachers and premium teaching content. But with their colorful advertisement fliers and exaggerated or even false information about how they can improve students grades， parents can easily fall into their traps.

According to a report released by the Chinese Society of Education at the end of 2016， among approximately 200 million primary and secondary school students， some 137 million had attended extracurricular classes， and in large cities like Beijing， Shanghai， Guangzhou and Shenzhen， 70 percent of students had attended these classes.

The report said one of the reasons for the popularity of extracurricular classes is that they tend to teach students in accordance with their aptitude compared to public schools. It also said that tutorial classes are usually more lively and fun than regular ones in public schools.

But peer pressure， among students as well as parents， also plays a role. “How can I just let it go when most of my sons classmates attend such after-school classes？ I dont want him to fall behind，” Lius mother， Zhang， said， despite the fact that her sons grades rank in the top 10 of his class.

“Parents should get rid of the herd mentality，” said Wang Guoqing， spokesperson for the First Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference， Chinas top political advisory body， at a press conference on March 2. He said the government needs to adopt a systematic and comprehensive reform， while parents， schools and the entire society need to make joint efforts to create a sound study- ing and teaching environment. “We should help students form sound rest-and-study routines and highly effi cient study habits，”Wang said.

Easing study burden Chen Baosheng， Minister of Education， said at a press conference on the sidelines of the First Session of the 13th National Peoples Congress， Chinas top legislature， in Beijing on March 16 that China should move faster to address the “burden” of both students and teachers.

“But fi rst we should be clear about what we mean by ‘burden. It means the part that is redundant and not in the school syllabus， whereas content that is required in the syllabus is not a burden， and students should work hard on them，” Chen said.

Xiao Su， a high school English teacher in Beijing， agrees with this definition. “Its reasonable for students who have diffi culty catching up with school classes to have tutoring courses，” she told Beijing Review.“But its unnecessary to take classes that have content before and beyond the school teaching syllabus so as to gain an upper hand.”

In February， China published a notice on slashing the heavy schooling and extracurricular burdens on primary and secondary school students.

Tutoring schools will be authorized by local educational bodies before being given a license. Information such as the number of classes， teaching content， prospective students and class schedules will be reviewed and put on record before being made public.

“Children are the future and hope of our country. We shouldnt let them shoulder heavy burdens when they are supposed to be studying and growing happily and healthily，” Wang said.