SEOUL (Bernama-Yonhap) – Six out of every 10 South Korean school-year children spend more hours studying than recommended, Yonhap news agency reported citing a survey by ChildFund Korea showed Thursday.
The children’s welfare foundation released the result after surveying 10,140 students from elementary freshmen to high-school sophomores in December.
Of those surveyed, 65.1 per cent were spending longer hours studying than deemed appropriate while nearly 13 per cent of the middle and high school students surveyed thought the time they normally spend studying to be “excessive”.
The survey showed the average study hours outside schools reached two hours and 17 minutes for lower-year elementary schoolers and two hours and 47 minutes for higher-year elementary school students.
The corresponding figures for middle and high school students were three hours and 12 minutes and three hours and 33 minutes, respectively.
Based on relevant data, the foundation recommended study time, except for school hours, to be less than an hour for lower-year elementary schoolers and less than two hours for higher-year elementary schoolers.
Up to two and a half hours of studying was recommended for middle school students and up to three hours for high schoolers.
The survey also noted that 18.8 per cent of children slept less than recommended.
The foundation urged the government to provide national guidelines to guarantee sleep hours and reduce study time for children to help them achieve a balanced lifestyle.
