China city sets school hour maximum to "ease burden"

BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) Laws on minimum school hours are common across the world, but one city in China, where pressure of competition starts from the word go, has set a maximum number of hours a child can attend, Xinhua news agency said today.

Pushy parents and teachers put pressure on Chinese kids to succeed at an early age, with holidays and leisure time often sacrificed for homework to ensure success in college entrance exams.

''The new policy sets a limit on the amount of time children spend at school'' in Guiyang, capital of the subtropical southwestern province of Guizhou, Xinhua said. It said the rules were aimed at preventing ''aggravating children's burden'' and at improving their mental and physical health.

''Primary schoolchildren should not stay over six hours in school, and the time ceilings for middle school and high school students are seven and eight hours respectively,'' it said.

The rules also forbid organised morning self-study, which traditionally takes the place of exercise sessions, and suspend all extra-curricular courses.

China now has the world's second highest myopia rate among schoolchildren, blamed in part on too much study, and obesity among the young has become a major health concern.

REUTERS PDM HT1237