Letting students wear pajamas and sleep at school, the principal shares the surprising reason

(Dan Tri) - For the first time, a public elementary school in Ho Chi Minh City has organized for students to wear pajamas and sleepwear freely to school and sleep at school at night.

In recent days, many parents of Phan Van Tri Primary School, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City have shared pictures of their children wearing pajamas to school, playing and sleeping at school in the evening.

Students of Phan Van Tri Primary School wear pajamas and sleepwear freely at the festival organized by the school (Photo: NH).

These are pictures from the Pajama Festival organized by Phan Van Tri Primary School.

At the festival, children can wear pajamas or casual clothes to school, participate in games, experiential activities, and physical activities to improve their health; exchange activities, quizzes, and learn about sleep and the importance of getting enough sleep.

After that, the students ate, bathed and slept overnight at school. The principal, teachers and nannies also wore pajamas and stayed at school to hang out with the students.

Before bedtime, teachers will let students do personal hygiene, sit and breathe deeply, listen to stories...

It can be said that this is the first public elementary school in Ho Chi Minh City to organize a festival for students to wear pajamas to school, play, eat and sleep at night right at school.

Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School, said that this was the first time the school organized this activity for students in grades 2, 3, and 4 with more than 150 students participating.

For grade 1 students, they are still young and not really suitable; while grade 5 students are in the enrollment stage and have to focus on studying and they also have their own graduation gratitude day.

Sharing about organizing this unprecedented activity, Mr. Le Hong Thai confided that for a long time, he has been very concerned about children not getting enough sleep, and worried about the image of students on the way to school, exhausted from lack of sleep.

Scientific research shows that primary school children need to sleep before 8:30 pm to have enough time to rest and develop comprehensively. However, according to Mr. Thai, the living environment in Ho Chi Minh City with its modern lifestyle, busy parents or not really aware of the importance of sleep, children are absorbed in phones, TV... very few children get to sleep before this time.

Students play and sleep overnight at school in pajamas (Photo: NH).

Through this, the school hopes that parents understand that sleep is very important for children, more important than eating and drinking, affecting children's ability to live and learn.

Not to mention, when children get enough sleep, they will be healthy and absorb nutrients well to support maximum height growth.

According to Mr. Thai, regarding height development, children in Ho Chi Minh City now have less nutritional deficiencies, but their habits, awareness of training, and sleeping habits are not high.

The school hopes that through this activity, it will help students form a concept about the importance of sleep and what is needed to have a good night's sleep.

"Of course, one festival cannot create a big change, but I hope to have some impact on people's awareness, for each student. From there, I hope to have other actions about the importance of sleep for young children," Mr. Thai shared.

The activity of "wearing pajamas to school" is not strange to international and bilingual schools, but it is very "different" and "strange" compared to activities in public schools.

To organize a unique activity in school, according to Mr. Thai, first of all, the principal must dare to do something different. Along with that, there must be support and consensus from teachers, staff and parents so that they can join hands.

Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, is also the person who wrote a letter asking to change flowers and gifts on November 20th to rewards for students, causing a stir (Photo: NH).

This is a fee-based activity to cover expenses such as organizing dinners, managing students, organizing games, stages, etc. When organizing a school, it is necessary to create transparency and openness for parents about expenses and organization methods so that parents can trust and feel secure.

The principal also said that all paid activities in schools need to be public, transparent, and clear so that parents will support them. Activities must be done in a way that parents can monitor and know what their children are playing, learning, eating, etc.

For him, schools must always be open so that parents can come in, participate, supervise, and create a connection and understanding between the school and the family for the benefit of the students.

The principal once wrote a letter refusing to accept flowers and gifts on November 20th.

Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, is also the person who wrote an open letter refusing to receive flowers and gifts to congratulate on November 20, 2024, with a surprising request that caused a stir in public opinion.

Accordingly, Mr. Thai sent a letter expressing that every year on Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, the school receives a lot of congratulatory flowers, but these flowers are only used for a few days and then thrown away, which is a waste.

Through this, the school hopes that instead of giving flowers and gifts to the school, the school would like to change the form by giving notebooks, milk and sports equipment so that the school can reward the students.

The school uses these gifts as rewards for students in sports activities, painting, decorating conical hats, piggy banks, etc. to help students develop their knowledge and personality.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/cho-tro-mac-pyjama-ngu-lai-truong-hieu-truong-chia-se-ly-do-bat-ngo-20250527152800878.htm