Survey: Students lose sleep due to homework

SHANGHAI - Homework, especially in mathematics, is what junior and senior high school students most often blame for their lack of sleep, according to a recent survey.

The survey, conducted by the city's Xuhui District Education Bureau, polled more than 20,000 students from 39 junior high schools and found that about 60 percent of them spend from two to four hours a day on homework. It also found that senior high school students sleep fewer than seven hours a day on average, which is one hour fewer than the Ministry of Education recommends.

In China, students from the ages of 13 to 16 go to junior high school and from 16 to 19 to senior high school.

"People are becoming concerned more about the workloads of high school students," said Pu Zhengquan, deputy director of Xuhui District Education Bureau. "That's why we conducted this survey. We think we should reduce the pressures students are under and give them more spare time."

Of all school subjects, the survey respondents said they spend the most time on mathematics. Many complained that their math homework is too difficult.