Pre-primary & secondary schools should not open before 9 am ; Social activist Sudhir Dani

By: Pune Pulse

December 19, 2023

Pune: In early December 2023, Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais discussed a very important topic on the occasion of the launch of the Chief Minister’s My School, Beautiful School campaign. He had advised the state education department that due to changing lifestyles, everyone’s sleep timings have changed and there is an increased tendency of everyone to sleep late at night. 

So, the state government should think about changing school hours to ensure that students receive enough sleep due to the ‘changed sleeping schedules’ in today’s world –

Hence, social activist Sudhir Dani has requested that schools should not open before 9 am.

As per Dani, respecting the governor’s instructions, the school timings should be changed and the policy should be implemented that under no circumstances should schools of pre-primary, and secondary classes be opened before 9 am. In recent times, schools are being held in 2 shifts, so even KG, primary classes start at 7 am. In a way, this is unfair to the boys and girls. In cities, many students have to leave their homes 30 minutes to 1 hour early as they have to go to schools 5-10 km away from their homes by school bus. This means they need to wake up at least between 5.30 am and 6 am.

Nowadays in cities, the sleeping time is after 11 pm, so children do not get enough sleep. Hence, many students wake up late in the morning & go to school without even taking a bath. Since the school is in the morning, 30 to 40 percent of the student’s parents give snacks in a box instead of giving them a box containing healthy food. All these types are very dangerous in terms of children’s health.

Considering that physical health is important, at least KG and primary level school timings should be only after 9 am across the state.