At the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress in 2024, the disappearing 10-minute recess has become a hot topic. A number of members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and deputies to the National People's Congress have put forward proposals to once again call for the 10 minutes between classes that have disappeared to be returned to students.
The deputies and committee members generally believe that the 10-minute recess is still not implemented under the premise of existing relevant laws and regulations, and the trend of "toilet socialization" is becoming more and more popular, which is bound to have a long-term adverse impact on the physical and mental health of young people.
A number of deputies and members of the committee told China News Weekly that the call for the 10-minute recess problem is by no means a "brain-beating" move, but a long-term and solid investigation to draw relevant conclusions and give specific suggestions for improvement.
In their view, this is not only concerned about the growth and long-term health of the country's future generation, but also a serious response to the failure to implement the 10-minute recess in relevant schools and other units.
Why is there no 10 minutes between classes?
At the end of last year, a teacher in Shanxi Province posted on the platform that 70% of the students in his school were reluctant to leave the classroom for 10 minutes between classes. During the 20-minute recess, there were few students on the playground, and the whole campus seemed very deserted.
After the short **was reported, it sparked discussion. In November 2023, CCTV News broadcast "10 minutes between classes, what's the problem with "wild" points? mentioned that the 10-minute recess in some schools is "disappearing". According to a survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily on 1,908 parents of primary and secondary school students, 752% of parents surveyed said that the phenomenon of "quiet 10 minutes between classes" in primary and secondary schools around them is common.
The host Bai Yansong once bluntly said: "How can children who can't even get out of the classroom for 10 minutes between classes support the healthy growth of a nation?" ”
In fact, as early as 2019, the Ministry of Education and other five departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Improving the Safety Incident Handling Mechanism and Maintaining the Order of School Education and Teaching", which clearly pointed out that schools shall not restrict or cancel normal recess activities, sports activities and other social practice activities in order to prevent safety accidents.
Article 8 of the Provisions on the Protection of Minors in Schools, which came into effect on September 1, 2021, further stipulates that schools shall not set up management measures that infringe on students' personal freedom, and shall not set unnecessary restrictions on students' freedom of speech and deeds such as proper communication, games, and activities outside the classroom during recess and other non-teaching hours.
Although there are relevant laws and regulations to standardize and guide and restrict, and the education, sports, and academic circles have been calling for it, from the actual situation, I am afraid that many schools are responding negatively, and the phenomenon of "captivity" between classes still exists in a large area. For example, schools generally prohibit children from doing outdoor activities between classes, and even require students not to go out of the classroom at will except for the bathroom, so that the student group ** appears "toilet social" strange phenomenon.
Gongyi Middle School, Gongyi Town, Pengshan District, Meishan City, Sichuan Province Recess Sports Picture Zhongxin** Photo by Weng Guangjian from China News Service.
Chen Weizhi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chairman of Shanghai New Era Education Group, told China News Weekly that through research, it was found that there were three main reasons for the "disappearance of 10 minutes between classes".
The first is the conflict between the heavy task of classroom teaching and the tension of class time. In recent years, the number of tasks in the classroom has increased, and the teaching of various subjects in primary and secondary schools has become more difficult, and some subject teachers have had to grab class time by dragging the classroom, squeezing students' recess time for additional classes, resulting in 10 minutes between regular classes, 30 minutes between large classes, and even lunch breaks are often "occupied" by teachers for subject teaching.
The second is the conflict between students' free activities and excessive accountability for safety. In reality, schools are often regarded as the subject of unlimited liability, and after the occurrence of student safety accidents, there is a general tendency of "excessive accountability" in relevant parties, especially students' parents. Between allowing students to move freely between recess and preventing students from having safety accidents, more schools and teachers prefer the latter to avoid safety risks, which is also the key crux of students' "grounding" between classes.
The third is the conflict between the school's insistence on the law of education and the excessive involvement of parents in school affairs. At present, due to the lack of "safety barriers", even if there is a slight physical conflict between students and classmates in school, some parents will come to the school to "ask the teacher". This has caused serious disruption to the normal educational activities of the school. In order to prevent complaints and reports from parents, some schools and teachers choose to "lie flat" and cancel some routine activities that are likely to cause disputes or safety risks.
It can be summarized in three points, "the burden of schoolwork is heavy, the school is afraid of responsibility, and parents are not forgiving".
10 minutes between classes may not be enough
Yang Yang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a former Olympic champion, learned that in recent years, the mental health problems of primary and secondary school students have become increasingly serious, which has had a great impact on the physical and mental health and future development of students.
According to the 2022 Annual Report on the Development of China's National Mental Health, 148% of adolescents had varying degrees of depression risk, and the detection rate of depression risk among rural primary school students was 252%, and the detection rate of anxiety risk was 257%。The detection rate of depression risk among rural middle school students was 200%, and the detection rate of anxiety risk was 436%。
On March 5, the Second Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held a meeting of the Sports Group in Beijing. The picture shows Yang Yang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, speaking at the meeting. Photo by China News Service reporter Yang Huafeng.
Yang Yang told China News Weekly that there is a strong link between sports and mental health. Physical activity stimulates the release of neurotransmitters such as endorphins in the brain, which can effectively relieve stress and anxiety and improve emotional state. Regular physical exercise can also enhance self-confidence, social skills and teamwork spirit, which plays an important role in cultivating students' resilience to frustration and positive personality traits. Scientific studies have shown that primary and secondary school students who regularly participate in physical activity have significantly better mental health levels than those who do not participate in physical activity or participate less than physical activity.
In Yang Yang's view, ensuring 10 minutes between classes and daily physical education classes is the key to ensuring students' mental health and laying the foundation for physical growth.
In the view of Li Yanhu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and director of the Sports Health Medicine Research Center of the Institute of Sports Medicine of the General Administration of Sports, the problem of recess cannot be solved, and it will affect the physical health of adolescents in the long run to a certain extent, and further attention needs to be paid to it.
Li Yanhu told China News Weekly that the number of scoliosis among primary and secondary school students in China has exceeded 5 million. More than half of the approximately 300,000 new cases nationwide each year are among adolescents, and the incidence rate among girls is 8-10 times higher than that of boys.
According to our survey data, the probability of spinal abnormalities among school students in China has reached about 50%. Since 2011, the Institute of Sports Medicine of the General Administration of Sports of China has officially carried out a study on adolescent spine health, and the results have found that the incidence of adolescent scoliosis has increased from 1%-3% 20 years ago to about 10% now. The main reason for this situation is that students have a lot of study pressure, a long time at the desk, a weak sense of posture management, and a lack of attention to spinal health. In addition, the high incidence of vision problems, obesity problems, cardiopulmonary insufficiency and psychological problems among adolescents in China are related to this. ”
Increasing children's activity time is the most direct and effective way to solve the current physical and mental health problems of children. Studies have shown that children who are active in the sun for two hours a day can greatly improve their vision problems. Under sunlight, children can release the negative energy generated by long-term physical depression indoors, and their psychology will become more sunny. ”
"I think at least during primary school there should be a 30-minute recess, which is something that needs to be considered at the top level at the national level," Li said. ”
Li Yanhu demonstrated and explained at the theme camp of "Adolescent Spine Health and Vision Health" Photo by Zhong Xin** China News Service.
It is necessary to "loosen" the school first
Bai Xiaoyong, a lawyer at Beijing Bosheng Law Firm who has been paying attention to campus injury cases for many years, told China News Weekly that the judicial authorities mainly rely on the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China to deal with disputes over campus injury incidents, in addition to the Criminal Law, the Education Law, the Protection of Minors and other laws, the Measures for the Handling of Student Injury Accidents, the Measures for the Safety Management of Primary and Secondary Schools and Kindergartens, the Regulations on the Protection of Minors in Schools and other administrative regulations, as well as local campus safety regulations.
From the perspective of judicial practice, according to the existing legal provisions, students under the age of 8 have no capacity for civil conduct, and the principle of presumption of fault needs to be adopted, and the school needs to prove that it has fulfilled its educational management responsibilities in order to be exempted from liability; For persons over the age of 8 with limited capacity for civil conduct, the principle of fault liability shall be adopted, that is, the injured party shall prove that the school is at fault.
Lawyer Bai Xiaoyong believes that some practical problems in judicial practice lead to the determination of responsibility and the resolution of disputes, and it is relatively difficult for schools and teachers to present evidence. "Looking specifically at some real-life cases, if it is difficult to clearly determine whether the school is at fault, the court will generally tend to believe that the school needs to bear some supplementary responsibility to a greater or lesser extent. ”
It can be seen that if you want to really return the 10 minutes between classes to your child, you must "loosen" the school and clarify the school's responsibility boundary. Over the years, deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have repeatedly called for the formulation of a special and highly targeted "Campus Security Law."
In this regard, Li Guohua, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, and deputy director of the Shanghai China Vocational Education Society, suggested that the rules should be further refined to clarify the relevant responsibilities for accidental injuries that occur when schools have fulfilled their educational management responsibilities. Clarifying the boundaries of responsibility for campus safety accidents with more perfect legal rules can dispel school safety concerns and give children their spare time. We should not blindly accommodate parents and criticize schools and teachers in the spirit of "whoever makes trouble is justified", but should seriously investigate and restore the truth and fairly determine responsibility.
Compared with Li Guohua's suggestion, Chen Weizhi's proposal is more detailed and specific: first, special teaching supervision should be carried out, and areas and schools that have failed to implement it should be held accountable, and the 10-minute guarantee between classes should be included in the inspection content of school teaching and management activities; Second, it is necessary to appropriately allocate subject class time to avoid the occurrence of "class time rush" among various disciplines; Third, it is necessary to reasonably define safety responsibilities, improve the mechanism for determining and compensating for student safety accidents, and establish an exemption system for schools and teachers who have fulfilled their responsibilities for safety education and safety management; Fourth, improve the home-school co-education mechanism, and give full play to the functional role of the parent committee.
In the view of some deputies and committee members, ensuring the safety of students on campus is indeed the bottom line, but safety must not be a reason to tie hands and feet and "captive" children, and we must not "choke on food" in order to "avoid safety problems" and "sacrifice" students' "10 minutes between classes" in exchange for absolute safety.
Author: Ye Zhufeng.