VietNamNet Bridge – Students complain that their daily activities have been disordered because of the changes in the working and learning hours. They lack time for having meals, sleeping and resting.

Finishing school hours at 7 pm, feeling tired and hungry of the curricular lessons, hurriedly having loafs of bread and rushing to evening classes – this is the timetable of many high school students.

Students put under hard pressure

A lot of parents and students complain that they can see only bad things caused by the working hour changes: they have to race against the clock, feel stressed and waste money.

A high school student finishes at 7pm. However, he does not have time to rest. He has to hurriedly have a loaf of bread, or drink a carton of milk before riding bicycle to the evening classes. A lot of students say they do not have time for snack meal and go to the private tutoring classes with empty stomach.

The student can only reach home late, at 10 pm. However, he cannot go to bed immediately, because he still needs to do homework and prepare for the next day’s lessons.

Previously, the school hours finished at 5 pm. Meanwhile, with the new learning shift, 5 pm is the time when the third lesson begins. A lot of students complain that they cannot receive any knowledge in the last two periods, because the energy for a working day nearly gets exhausted at that time.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, a 10th grader of Chu Van An High School in Hanoi, said that he feels hungry when the third lesson finishes. But now, instead of relaxing or playing sports, he still has to “struggle” with two more lessons.

It would be really a burden on the students who have to attend both the morning and afternoon learning shifts. The morning shift finishes at 11.30 am, while the afternoon shift begins at 1.30 pm. As a result, students have to stay at school, which means that parents would have to spend more money for the lunches of their children.

Nguyen Thai Duong, a 11th grader of the Cau Giay High School in Hanoi, said that in the last week, since the new working hour mechanism began, he only has several hours a day to sleep.

“As I have lunch at the canteen, I have to spend more money, about 25,000-35,000 dong per serving,” he said.

Parents also feel worried stiff

The new learning shifts have not only made students, but parents suffer as well. The areas in front of the schools are always crowded in late afternoon with the parents, waiting to pick up their children. Some parents have said they have to neglect some works to take care for the children, because they get too tired these days.

Hoang Thu Hang, who lives in Cau Giay district in Hanoi, said that her son is a 12th grader and he needs to prepare intensively for the university entrance exams and go to private tutoring classes every evening.

“The evening class begins at 7.30 pm, which means that my son only has 30 minutes to travel from his school to the evening class. Therefore, I need to be here to help bring him to the class,” she explained.

Meanwhile, a woman said that she has to go picking up her daughter everyday, because she feels insecure when letting her go on the streets in the evening.

“It is so cold and dark. Meanwhile, she has too many lessons that make her tired. How can she gather energy to ride bicycle?” she said.

Some students said that their parents are too busy and do not have time to take care for them. Therefore, they have to take taxi to go home every day, which is really an additional financial burden on the parents.

Thu Thao