‘Children have to stay up until 11 pm’: State Duma plans to reduce burden on schoolchildren
The issue of excessive workload of Russian schoolchildren has been named one of the priorities for the State Duma in 2025. The main factors contributing to overload include difficult homework. The speakers of Realnoe Vremya also agreed with the problem — as a mother of two schoolchildren said, her children sometimes have to stay up until 11 pm for homework. According to Pavel Shmakov, the director of Solntse School, the problem can be solved with the help of psychologists and the gradation of disciplines by priority. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
“We plan to include this issue among the priorities”
The issue of excessive workload of Russian schoolchildren will become a priority for the State Duma in 2025. This was stated by Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin on his social media page on December 27. According to him, it is planned to work with the government to develop solutions to reduce the burden on students.
Volodin conducted a survey among his subscribers to find out their opinion about the existing workload for schoolchildren. The results showed that more than 50% of users confirm that children experience excessive stress, spending an average of 8-10 hours a day studying. Parents also express concern about this.
Among the main factors contributing to the overload of schoolchildren, the following have been noted:
- complex and voluminous homework assignments;
- overloaded schedule and a large number of disciplines studied;
- compulsory extracurricular activities;
- a six-day academic week;
- training in the second shift.
“The government understands the need to review the academic load in schools. We plan to include this issue among the priorities for 2025 and work out solutions together with the government," Volodin wrote, stressing that the problem requires immediate attention.
“It's hard for children”
Zulfiya Usmanova is a mother of two schoolchildren. His son is in 8th grade, and her daughter is in 11th grade and is preparing for the Unified State Exam.
“The workload is quite high, it's hard for children. After school, they do their homework before nightfall. At the same time, they don't give you much knowledge at school, and you also have to hire additional tutors," she shared.
After school, Usmanova's son spends about 3-4 more hours studying, and her daughter spends 6 hours preparing for the Unified State Exam after completing her homework.
“I look at their homework and realise that it really is an unrealistic amount. They assign a lot of work for each subject. “If a child is interested in good grades, they have to stay up until 11 p.m. every day," complains a mother.”
Answering a question from a correspondent of Realnoe Vremya, Usmanova suggested that the burden on children could be reduced by grading school subjects by priority: “For example, my son loves mathematics, my daughter loves social studies.”
“It is necessary to think about reducing the load, without any doubt”
Psychologists can help solve the problem of overloading schoolchildren. According to Shmakov, it is necessary that specialists conduct research on the condition of children in schools and, based on the results, take appropriate measures.
“I am very concerned about the lack of good psychological work in schools. The problem of overloading children should be studied from the inside — the school should have a psychologist who will study who needs help in the first place. After all, not all children are overloaded, but those who are illiterate in organising their time and resources," he explained.
He cited “standard school honours students” as an example:
“They graduate from school with medals, successfully pass all exams, but they are taken away from the Unified State Exam in an ambulance. It's wrong that a child works in an unreasonable way. This leads to health problems.”
In addition to introducing psychologists, it is necessary to divide subjects by priority, continued Shmakov. Children should pay less attention to those disciplines that are unimportant to them, freeing up time for loved ones.
“There are three levels of study of subjects: advanced, intermediate, and basic. Advanced is a child's favourite subject and mathematics with Russian, advanced is a medium level, basic are subjects that this student does not really need. For example, literature is not so important for a student with a mathematical mindset. Accordingly, he studies mathematics for many hours, and literature — according to a simplified program," explained the principal.
However, other measures are needed in elementary school. Children at this age, according to the source, “just need a teacher who loves them”.
“Definitely, there should be only the first shift, because it is simply difficult for a child to study from 1 pm to 7 pm. As for the five-day period, there is a more complicated issue here. If we keep our education system going, then we can't do without six days in high school. A child is simply not able to learn that much material in five days. Either it is necessary to completely change the education system. With the current high demands, it is necessary to know a lot. For the younger grades, a five-day school week should be introduced, while for the older grades, under current conditions, it is impossible to get by without six days," he added.