The majority of kids cannot spare more than 25 minutes a day to playtime due to the burden of school work and the peer pressure brought by their parents. This has led to increased stress, anxiety, frustration and other psychological problems, a survey conducted by the Assocham Social Development Foundation (ASDF) says.

The survey’s statistics are sad and shocking, as despite the Government’s norms for stress-free education, the majority of private schools are not following them. Around 82 per cent of parents said after a long day at school, the homework overload is too much for young kids to handle, Assocham said here on Friday.

On an average, children in metropolitan cities spend nearly seven-eight hours, or even 10 hours, at school, the survey claimed. The majority of children spend longer hours in schools than their parents spend at work. The survey, conducted in the March-June period, revealed that nearly 68 per cent of children below the age of 12 experience stress in school, Mr D. S. Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham and Chairman of ASDF, said.

The children spend most of their time in school, travelling, on home/project work, watching television and sleeping. A majority of kids spend 8-10 hours in school, 2 hours on school work, over 1 hour in travelling, 2-3 hours in extra tuition, 8-9 hours of sleep, 40 minutes for eating food (including lunch and dinner) and less than 20 minutes is spared for playtime, making them unhappy.

The random survey by an Assocham team was conducted in 10 major cities and covered over 2,000 children and an equal number of parents.

“Homework assignments and the pressure to complete many assignments on time can cause anxiety and frustration among kids,” said Dr B. K. Rao, Chairman, Assocham Health Committee. Most 6-8-year olds spend an average of two hours a day on homework. The amount of time 9-12-year olds and 12-16-year olds spend on homework has almost tripled in the last three years.

Over 75 per cent of the parents said children find it difficult to complete their homework without taking the assistance of their parents. Of the 1,200 kids polled in the 9-to-15 age bracket, 71 per cent reported feeling stressed most of the time because they had too much to do. About 92 per cent of the kids wanted more free time.

But some schools said it is the parents, demanding higher achievement, that push the schools into giving more homework.

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