From Sep. 1 primary and kindergarten children in Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong Province, will begin their classes at 8:30 a.m., half an hour later than usual.

The new timetable is formulated by the Municipal Education Bureau, who also says the schools and kindergartens can decide when the school day finishes since the upcoming semester, reported Monday's China Daily.

"I used to get up before 7 a.m., and rush to school after a short breakfast because the class began at 8 a.m., a little bit early for me," said Lin Jie'er, a nine-year-old pupil in Guangzhou's Dadaonan Primary School.

"But following the schedule, I will have more time to enjoy breakfast because the class begins half an hour later," Lin said.

Under the old scheme, pupils often did not have enough time fro sleep. Many students also had to arrive at the school around 7:30 a.m. to prepare for class.

"Sometimes I felt very sleepy in the morning and could not concentrate in class," said the pupil.

"The new school schedules keeps abreast with the working time of civil servants. So I can get up with my daughter at the same time and help her get ready," said Lin's father, a civil servant in the city.

However, Liang Yu, a 41-year-old ceramics factory worker who clocks on at 8 a.m., is not so pleased.

"Under the new scheme, I still need to get up early to prepare breakfast for my son and send him to school before 8 a.m. But what can he do in the half hour before class?"

Liang suggests schools should assign some teachers to look after students who arrive before the scheduled time.

Meng Yuanbei, deputy director of the Guangzhou Education Bureau, said the new school schedule is expected to relieve students' burden by giving them more time to rest.

National education regulations state that primary school students should get nine hours of sleep everyday.

"We have received information from parents and schools asking us to adjust the existing scheme because a great number of students could not get nine hours of sleep a day," the official said.

The change was debated after a deputy to the city's people's congress proposed early this year that a later school starting time be adopted in the city.

Source: Xinhua