Classes at dawn: Why a pilot project for schools in an Indonesia city has led to protests

What are the concerns?

The scheme has drawn criticism from parents, experts and various organisations due to the health hazards the pupils may face due to their curtailed sleep. According to a report by the AFP, the parents have pointed out that to reach school on time, the students have to be up by 4 am. The schools mostly get over by 3.30 pm, and by the time they get back home, they are totally exhausted, the guardians claimed.

They have also raised concerns about the safety of their wards going out for school when it’s still “pitch dark” and “quiet”, reported the news agency AFP.

According to an education expert from Nusa Cendana University, Marsel Robot, whom the AFP talked to, the scheme formulated by the state government has no correlation with the effort to improve the quality of education. Instead, the sleep deprivation could adversely hit the students’ health in the long run and result in a shift in behaviour, Robot told AFP. “They will only sleep for a few hours and this is a serious risk to their health. This also will cause them stress and they will vent their stress by acting out,” AFP quoted him as saying.

A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics published in 2014 suggested that middle and high school goers should start classes at 8:30 am or later so that they have enough time for sleep.

The outcry, and the demands for pullback

According to the Indonesian media outlet Kompas, the Indonesian Ombudsman has asked the central government to intervene in the trial being carried out by the local government. The Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission have also called for a review of the policy, Kompas reported.

Terming the scheme “baseless”, the local lawmakers have also demanded that the government cancel the policy.

What has been the local government’s reaction so far?

Despite calls to strike down the policy, the local government is still carrying on with their experiment. It has even extended it to the local education agency, where civil servants too now start their day at 5:30 am.