To prevent teen suicide, cap number of hours Hong Kong pupils study, group urges
Its survey finds most support making ‘seven hours or fewer’ standard
In a bid to ease stress and prevent teen suicide, Hong Kong parents and pupils have called for capping the time children spend on their studies to no more than seven hours a day, effectively sparing them from academic work after school.
Allowing children more free time could improve relations with their parents, they also believed.
The calls came as a concern group on Sunday released initial findings of its survey to coincide with the 15th annual World Suicide Prevention Day.
Conducted since mid-July by the Civil Alliance for Student Suicide Prevention, the survey is ongoing but analyses of the 631 questionnaires collected so far showed about 90 per cent of the respondents, mainly comprising parents and pupils, wanted “standard study hours” to be implemented to help ease schoolchildren’s stress.
Of this number, about 70 per cent said the “standard” should be set at “seven hours or fewer” per day.