17 May 2017

Parents, teachers and students have praised Nanyang Girls High’s policy of starting school 45 minutes later, at 8.15am every day.

Mrs Ho-Sam Choon Juen, dean of student systems and info management at Nanyang Girls High, said: “We’ve known that our girls were not sleeping enough because of their academic and extra-curricular commitments.”

Since the policy began a year ago, chemistry teacher Mr Muhammad Imran has noticed a distinct change in the students. “I think everyone is more energetic when school starts,” he said, noting that there were “fewer sleepyheads in class”.

Students have reported that the extra extra sleep has allowed them to get through the school day better than before. They can sit through lessons with longer attention spans and also have energy left over for CCAs after classes.

The case for schools in Singapore to start later has surfaced regularly over the years. But the arguments against it have always included how this would clash with the work schedules of parents and the possible need for reductions in curriculum time.

To assuage the concerns of the different groups, Nanyang Girls High re-designed the timetable structure, re-distributed the curriculum hours, staggered the recess timing, and changed the assembly to a fortnightly session. Curriculum hours for each subject have been left intact, and teachers still have sufficient interaction time with students during lessons.

Parents have also been assured that if they needed to continue sending their daughters to school at 7.30am, there would be teachers around for security.

When contacted, the Ministry of Education said that most schools start their school day at around 7.30am or later. The ministry said, “Schools take into consideration their parents’ feedback, transport provisions and traffic situation around their schools to determine their start time. Schools are also mindful that starting schools later has an impact on schools’ dismissal time, with lessons continuing during the hotter part of the afternoon.”