Since February, ten Indonesian schools have started a experimental project which provides for classes to start at 5:30 in the morning in certain classes of students, about two hours earlier than usually happens in the country. The project was started in Kupang, a city of about 430,000 inhabitants in the western part of the island of Timor (in the eastern part of which the state of East Timor is located), and was wanted by the government of the province: on the one hand, local authorities claim it can encourage students to discipline, but on the other hand students, parents and various critics believe it would have far more downsides than upsides.
The project started on February 27 and involves only female and senior students high school, who in Indonesia are between 16 and 17 years old. Normally in the country, school begins between 7 and 8 in the morning and ends around 15:30: the governor of the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Viktor Laiskodat, however, has decided to experiment with early entry, in the belief that it can strengthen students’ ethics, but also improve their performance and increase their chances of being accepted into the best universities.
This is upsetting the habits of families and complicating student life, which according to some parents interviewed by AFP extension they are often sleepy, sometimes they have to get up at 4 in the morning to go to school, in the dark, and when they get home they are immediately tired. It has also drawn criticism from teachers, religious leaders and local politicians, who have accused the provincial government of launching the project without first conducting studies or research that could demonstrate its effectiveness.
The Indonesian news site Kompas She writes that both the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) have asked for the decision to be reviewed. In general, various critics argue that the project does not take into account the real interests of students and is not in line with efforts to improve the quality of education in the country.
In the long run, deprived sleep could harm students’ health, increase their stress levels and negatively affect their behavior, among other things. One study published in 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States, recommends, for example, not starting school before 8:30, so that girls and boys who go to school can sleep at least 8 hours and a half every night: nevertheless, the school American usually starts before 8.
Despite the criticisms and appeals, the local government is continuing the project, which has indeed been extended to the offices of the provincial agency that deals with education: the agency’s staff must also start work at 5:30.
