While schools have the flexibility to start later so that students get enough sleep, parents must also play their part in cultivating good sleeping habits in their children, said Minister of State for Education Sun Xueling yesterday.
She was responding to Workers' Party MP Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC) and Ms Cheng Li Hui (Tampines GRC), who had asked if there were plans to re-evaluate school start times.
At present, schools do not start earlier than 7.30am.
But Ms Sun said they have the autonomy to start later, taking into consideration factors such as parents' feedback, school end times, transport arrangements and the traffic situation around the school.
Noting that multiple issues contribute to the problem of sleep deprivation, Ms Sun said that her ministry has commissioned two research studies looking into the impact of factors affecting students' sleep duration and quality.
"Apart from whether school start times should be delayed, we will need to work with parents to improve sleep hygiene, manage the overall load on students, as well as their use of digital devices," she said.
Her remarks drew comments from Associate Professor Lim and Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten). Prof Lim asked if the Ministry of Education (MOE) could consider staggering start times for secondary school students.
He cited a Straits Times article by three sleep scientists which pointed out that students in this age group experience changes that delay their preferred sleeping times, and could therefore most benefit from a later start at school.
Meanwhile, Mr Lim said schools should encourage parents to get their children to sleep earlier.
"When my kids were young, I used to tell them to sleep early... to be able to go to school without having problems," he said. "So, instead of getting schools to start later, would we not consider asking children to sleep earlier, to get their full quota of available sleep?"
Ms Sun pointed out that schools already stagger start times as part of safe management measures. MOE will be looking at the results of its recently commissioned studies to better understand sleep issues, she said.
She also noted that delaying school start times may not translate to more sleep, citing a 2016 study involving a local school which found that a 45-minute delay in the start time resulted in a 10-minute increase in sleep time.
Workers' Party MP Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) then asked if the issue of traffic congestion would become less of a concern, given that more people are now working from home in a trend that may persist beyond the pandemic.
Ms Sun said her ministry would consider these and other factors holistically.
