In a country where children's schedules have long been crowded with lessons, homework and tutoring, China's Ministry of Education has now asked schools to lighten the load on primary and secondary students. The measures, announced in October and reported from Hong Kong, reach across the day: at least two hours of physical activity, tighter limits on homework, phones kept out of classrooms, and room for sleep. Behind them lies a familiar human worry about young people worn down by competition, and a quieter question of whether a rule written in an office can soften pressures that families carry
China Orders More Sleep, Less Screen Time and Two Hours of Daily Exercise for Students
In a country where children's schedules have long been crowded with lessons, homework and tutoring, China's Ministry of Education has now asked schools to lighten the load on primary and secondary students. The measures, announced in October and reported from Hong Kong, reach across the day: at least two hours of physical activity, tighter limits on homework, phones kept out of classrooms, and room for sleep. Behind them lies a familiar human worry about young people worn down by competition, and a quieter question of whether a rule written in an office can soften pressures that families carry home. The earlier attempt in 2021 suggests that the answer depends less on the words of the rule than on the habits it must somehow change.
Chinese primary and secondary schools have received a new set of instructions from the Ministry of Education, responding to a problem experts have described for some time: students who are tired, anxious and buried under schoolwork. The ministry announced the measures in October, and Reuters reported on them from Hong Kong on November 12.
The main demand is physical activity. Schools must provide at least two hours of exercise every school day, and total homework must be strictly controlled. Screens are also targeted, with a ban on mobile phones in classrooms and periods without screens, aimed at what the ministry sees as excessive internet use. Schools are also asked to protect sleep through reasonable start and end times and adequate lunch breaks, and the ministry has pledged strict enforcement against excessive studying.
The stated goal is to help students cope with stress and anxiety, especially around exams. Teachers are included as well, with limits on their out-of-school duties and a ban on work during holidays and weekends.
The new rules follow a 2021 education law that also aimed to reduce homework and banned after-school tutoring in core subjects. Many parents kept searching for tutoring anyway, in a competitive system where they fear falling behind. Whether these measures change daily life will depend on enforcement, and on whether the pressure families feel finally eases.
Chinese primary and secondary schools have been handed a new set of instructions aimed at a problem experts have long described: students who are tired, anxious and weighed down by schoolwork. The Ministry of Education announced the measures in October, and Reuters reported on them from Hong Kong on November 12.
The centerpiece is physical activity. Schools are told to provide at least two hours of exercise for primary and secondary students on every school day. The ministry also wants total homework strictly controlled, a phrase it used in its guidance.
Screens are the second front. The measures include a ban on mobile phones in classrooms and a period of screen-free time, intended to reduce what the ministry sees as excessive reliance on the internet.
Sleep is the third. Schools are encouraged to make sure students get enough of it by setting arrival and dismissal times in a reasonable manner and allowing adequate lunch breaks. The ministry's statement was blunt on enforcement of sleep rules: it called for strictly enforcing sleep management regulations, resolutely curbing violations such as excessive studying, and preventing excessive academic burdens.
The stated purpose is to help students cope with stress and anxiety, particularly around exams. Experts say heavy homework loads are common in schools across China, and that they lead to lack of sleep and to increased anxiety and depression.
Teachers are covered too. In a separate notice, also released in October, the ministry said it was reducing teachers' workloads by limiting their out-of-school duties and barring them from working on holidays and weekends.
The new measures arrive after earlier attempts. In 2021, China passed an education law that sought to cut back on homework and banned after-school tutoring in core school subjects. Yet many parents have continued to look for tutoring services to give their children an edge in a highly competitive education system.
That history frames the open question. The ministry has set out what schools must do, but whether the new rules change what happens in homes and classrooms may depend on how they are enforced, and on whether the pressure parents feel eases at all. The 2021 experience suggests that rules alone have not ended the search for an advantage.
Citas Notables
Strictly enforce sleep management regulations, resolutely curb violations such as excessive studying and prevent excessive academic burdens.— China's Ministry of Education statement
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