Ask any student what the last period in school is like. When the final bell rings, the relief is not on our faces alone. I am sometimes amused that some of my teachers get out of the school faster than I do. Extended school hours are like detention classes and both teachers and students are punished. There is only so much one can absorb. Teachers are not like other government officers. Teaching is physically and emotionally draining.

I also don’t agree with the idea that with longer school hours we can get our homework done in school and also finish with extracurricular activities. I prefer to do my homework alone. I also prefer to study early in the morning.

Finally, I get very irritated when school officials point to countries with longer school hours like Japan and Britain.. Our officials seem to forget that in those countries school does not start until 9 in the morning, they have more than an hour for lunch and, most importantly, it is a lot cooler since these are temperature countries. In the hot summer months, they are on vacation.

I like the present school hours. I like being at home in the afternoons. I like doing my own thing at home. I prefer to decide how to spend my time. I have time to learn a musical instrument, read, play on my computer and, believe it or not, study too!

Tags: extended school hours

I breathed a sigh of relief when the Ministry of Education announced that for the time being, longer school hours can not be considered. The Ministry said they were hampered by several constraints. The most serious of which was the lack of space. Morning children can only stay until 3.30pm if there is no afternoon session. Although many schools, especially in the rural areas, have become single session schools, this is not the case in urban areas. Expense was another consideration. Students will now have to bring lunch to school or eat lunch there. Many parents complained about the added expenditure. It would be too expensive for the Ministry to subsidize meals for every Malaysian student.

My reasons for disliking long school hours are more mundane. Our teachers had explained to us that the main purpose for longer school hours was to ensure that we used our time fruitfully. My friends and I understand this to mean that our teachers are baby-sitting us. We know that many working parents are quite relieved to know their children will be in school longer. They have fewer hours to worry about between the time their children get home and the time they do. However, I feel the need to go home. By 2 o’clock. I’m really tired. Many of us study in hot, noisy classrooms. There’s only a 20 minute break for recess in my school and this is quite common in a lot of schools. I’m also very hungry by lunchtime and one meal at the school canteen is more than enough. I have very little faith that school canteens can provide good nutritious meals.

Tags: extended school hours