Only about 20 percent of junior-high students are getting adequate sleep and more than half are fatigued, as self-study and recess periods continue to be substituted for exams and review, the Child Welfare League Foundation said today, calling for authorities to better monitor schools in support of students’ mental and physical health.
The foundation released the results of its survey conducted this year on teaching in junior-high schools.
Comparing data from 2015 with this year, the proportion of students whose teachers have taken over other subjects’ class time for subjects deemed more important has dropped from 82 to 58.7 percent, the survey showed.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
However, the problem worsens with grade level, rising from 55.7 percent among seventh graders to about 60 percent among eighth and ninth graders, the foundation said.
An informal “core subjects over electives” rule has emerged in some cases, with physical education and arts classes more likely to be sacrificed as exams approach, it added.
This year’s survey showed that more than 80 percent of students must take exams during morning self-study periods, the foundation said.
Although this is an improvement from 93.9 percent in 2015, progress has been minimal, it added.
Some schools label real exams as “practice” to circumvent assessment regulations, it said, adding that this shows junior-high schools face an overloaded curriculum and struggle to keep up with teaching goals.
Recess periods for about half of junior-high students are sacrificed for punishments, lesson catch-up or extra study sessions, with higher rates in private versus public schools, the survey showed.
This is reflected in students’ fatigue levels, with more than half of junior-high students reporting moderate to high levels of fatigue, and about 19.2 percent experiencing extreme fatigue, the foundation said, adding that fatigue levels increase as students advance to higher grades.
Only 20.8 percent of junior-high students sleep for eight hours per night and 19.5 percent get less than six hours, the survey showed.
In ninth grade as coursework becomes more stressful, 57.8 percent of students sleep less than seven hours a night, it showed.
Junior-high students in abnormal teaching environments are more likely to experience extreme fatigue, it said, adding that efforts to normalize teaching in junior-high schools have not yet been fully realized.
Education authorities should strengthen oversight and take the issue of students’ long-term physical and mental strain more seriously, it said.
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