Deputies together with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Science, representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office and sleep specialists discussed the child’s right to a full-fledged sleep and the start time of education in educational institutions.
“We believe that we should continue to talk about it in order to find the best solutions for children’s right to a full sleep and also education,” says the chairperson of the commission, Leila Rasim (P).
She notes that currently, Latvian schools themselves determine what time the first lesson starts for children, but, for example, in Lithuania or Estonia, legislation stipulates that lessons cannot start earlier than 8 o’clock.
Rasima, referring to the survey conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman, stated that there are approximately 1.2% of cases in Latvia when hours start from 7 am to 7:30 am. On the other hand, in 11.8% of cases, they start from 7.30 am.
Marta Celmiņa, a sleep specialist at the Children’s Clinical University Hospital, emphasized to the members of the commission that young people accumulate a very strong sleep “debt” during the week, which is impossible to “sleep in” on holidays. She expressed that, when talking about the start time of classes, the opinion of not only adults, but also the children themselves, should be taken into account. According to him, society has little understanding of how young people themselves feel. Celmiņa has explained that the physiological, social and psychological characteristics of teenagers make them go to bed much later.
At the same time, Celmiņa emphasized that because of early school mornings, teenagers sleep far too little, which can have both short-term and long-term consequences for health, academic achievements and potential. The specialist indicated that classes should not start earlier than 8.30 am.
A later start of classes has beneficial effects on the health of young people, and also solves many other problems, for example, it reduces the use of addictive substances and road traffic accidents, noted Celmiņa.
On the other hand, the representatives of the Ministries of Health and Education in the commission said that a complex solution should be sought, because there are many people involved in this issue – both parents, municipalities, interest-based educational institutions and others.
The World Health Organization has indicated that children between the ages of five and 18 need an average of ten hours of sleep.
It has already been reported that the ombudsman Juris Jansons has called on the government until March 31 next year to determine that lessons, consultations, and optional lessons in schools cannot start earlier than 8 a.m.
The doctors of the Children’s Clinical University Hospital also joined his call.
The ombudsman believes that such changes have so far been prevented by the lack of understanding of the impact of a full-fledged sleep on the child’s health, development and behavior, including in the responsible ministries.
In Janson’s view, the preferred scenario would be for primary school classes to start at 8:30 a.m., and in secondary schools – from 9 a.m. At the moment, the state does not set the start time for educational institutions, so schools have freedom of action in this matter, the ombudsman notes.
This issue has come to the attention of the Ombudsman for the second time. Already in 2017, the ombudsman appealed to the two responsible ministries and called on educational institutions to determine the earliest permissible time for the beginning of lessons.
Source: www.diena.lv
