A survey has shown that high school students in Korea sleep less than an average of six hours a day, and stay at school for over 12 hours every day. (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – A survey has shown that high school students in Korea sleep less than an average of six hours a day, and stay at school for over 12 hours every day.
Asunaro, a human rights group for adolescents, points out that a lack of sleep and free time due to heavy studying is harming the physical and psychological health of teenagers. According to the survey they conducted on 6,261 high school students, 41.3 percent went home from school after 10 p.m. and 72.6 percent went home after 6 p.m., while 35.5 percent went to school before 8 a.m.
Over half of the high school students (56.9 percent) answered that they spent too much time at school, and had too much homework to do. The study time thought of as suitable by the respondents was an average of seven hours and 13 minutes, which was a five hour difference compared to the actual average of around twelve hours.
An overwhelming 96.6 percent answered that their school had after hour self-study programs, and 40.2 percent among who answered affirmatively said that they were forced to participate in them.
Students were studying not only after hours, but also on the weekend, with 67.3 percent answering that they had self-study programs on the weekend, and 28.9 percent among them saying that they were forced to participate.
Private institutes were also popular, with 64.4 percent of respondents attending and studying an average of around seven hours there every week. In addition, students studied on their own for an average of one hour and 53 minutes.
As a result, students lacked sleep and rest, reporting an average sleep time of five hours and 50 minutes.
Considering the common knowledge that one should have seven to eight hours of sleep to stay healthy, it is clear that students are lacking a serious amount of sleep. The average desired sleep time was seven hours 38 minutes, which was almost two hours longer than the average of what they are currently getting.
The students who responded had an average of one hour and 53 minutes of free time. A majority of 72.8 percent answered that they felt uneasy, tense, and anxious when they were resting.
Asunaro commented on the results of the survey. “The students are stressed out at the long hours of studying, and their physical and mental health are suffering due to the lack of sleep and free time. This kind of excessive studying will cause a sense of time poverty among students, lowering their quality of life. They need more free time as well as time to rest.”
By Francine Jung (francine.jung@kobizmedia.co.kr)
Pingback: Goodbye memorization, enter the new century of learning | The APIS Hawkeye