Sleep some more: HCMC schools push back morning classes

The Nguyen Du secondary school in the downtown District 1 said Wednesday that morning classes would begin 15 minutes later at 7:15 a.m. starting next Monday.

The Nguyen Thai Binh primary school in District 4 would also push back morning class hours by 15 minutes to 7:30 a.m. starting next week.

Principal Le Ngoc Phong said pushing back hours by 15 minutes would not be a significant change, and students can still have enough time to either have breakfast at school or at home.

Several schools in the outlying District 12 have already pushed back their morning classes by 15-30 minutes starting October 24.

Most schools in HCMC typically begin morning classes at 7 a.m. Many students have to wake up early in the morning to prepare for class, which could negatively affect their sleeping hours, experts and parents have said.

Following people’s complaints, the HCMC Department of Education and Training announced that the earliest morning school hours for primary schools would be 7:30 a.m., 7:15 a.m. for secondary schools and 7 a.m. for high schools.

Ho Tan Minh, office head of the HCMC education department, said that regardless of the new timings, schools must open their gates at 6:30 a.m. so that parents can drop their children off before going to work.