Class starts at 6:30: Students complain 'waking up at 5am still worried about being late'

Bus station overload during rush hour

NHN, a third-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, hopes the school will keep the same or later classes instead of moving them up 30 minutes. N. said that due to financial constraints, she is staying in Tang Nhon Phu ward (old district 9). N. said that she currently has 3 classes at 7am, usually getting up at 5am to prepare, and arriving at school at 6:45am. At this time, the school's parking lot is a "nightmare" for students.

"It usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to park. When the parking lot is full, students have to run through the gym to park and walk back to school, so getting to school at 7am like now is a matter of luck. If the school moves the class time to 6:30am, I'll probably have to wake up at 4:30am to prepare," N. added.

Truong Cong Hai, a fourth-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said he had a lot of difficulties when he had his first class at 6:30 a.m. "My house is in Binh Chanh, 20 km from school, so every time I have to study the first class, I have to wake up at 5 a.m. to prepare. Because it's too early, I still feel sleepy and doze off while driving, and there have been a few times when I hit people with my car," Hai shared the risks.

Many students, like Hai, said that instead of staying in dormitories or staying near school, they want to live with their families to save money on living expenses, so they often wake up at 5 a.m. to prepare for school.

Sinh viên than thở vì giờ học 6 giờ 30: Dậy từ sáng sớm vẫn lo trễ - Ảnh 1. — Students want flexible study hours to be able to balance between study, health and work.

Tran Nhat Tuan, a fourth-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, expressed his concern when the school scheduled the exam for the first period at 6:30 a.m. Because according to Tuan, taking the exam at this time, he was not alert enough to do the test. "Not to mention, it took me a whole hour to go from my house in Hoc Mon to school by motorbike, and when I got there, I was tired, I just wanted to sleep more and didn't have enough energy to concentrate on doing the test. I really hope the school will reconsider and move the exam schedule to after 8:00 a.m. so that students have the best time to prepare," Tuan expressed.

Even though he starts class at 7:30 a.m., Truong Huu Tho, a fourth-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, said he still wants to go to class later. Huu Tho confided that he is a final-year student, so his graduation project is quite heavy, and with his internship, he doesn't have much time to rest. "Because I have to stay up late at night to study and do my project, I also want to start class at 8:00 a.m. to have more time to rest," Huu Tho said.

Students complain about their spread out study schedule.

In addition to class time, students also want their schedules to be "condensed", focusing on fewer days instead of spreading out over many days during the week. Students say this makes it easier for them to arrange time for internships or part-time jobs, which are key to accumulating professional experience.

Huynh Duc Phu, a fourth-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, shared: "I study about 5 days a week, but each day I only study 2-4 hours. I hope the school can rearrange the class schedule, for example, to 3 consecutive days, or even study on Sundays so that I have time to do an internship to gain experience." With the current schedule, Phu said that it is difficult to balance between studying and real-life work opportunities, leading to missing out on many internship positions.

Truong Hai My, a second-year student at Ton Duc Thang University, said she has to study 5 days a week. She is currently planning to work part-time and prepare for an internship. She said that if possible, she would concentrate her study schedule instead of studying scatteredly to make it more convenient for her to work part-time and register for an internship.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Trong Duc, a second-year student atFPT Polytechnic College, only studies 2 days a week at school. According to Duc, this schedule makes it easy for him to work part-time, join clubs, participate in extracurricular activities, and learn foreign languages to gain knowledge and experience.

Lecturer presents solution

Ms. Truong Hoang To Nga, a lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry, said that starting school early makes it harder for students to concentrate in the first period compared to other periods. However, the school also needs to sympathize with the large student population and limited facilities. According to Ms. To Nga, if classes do not start at 6:30 a.m., there will not be enough classrooms and time slots to accommodate all classes, leading to a situation where some students do not have a place to study or have to extend their schedule until late at night. Therefore, Ms. To Nga proposed a long-term solution of building more facilities or increasing online learning to balance student needs and the school's operational capacity.

Meanwhile, Master Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Head of the Communications Department of the International University (Ho Chi Minh City National University), said that abroad, students study continuously, even all night in the library and lab. At the same time, lecturers also work continuously. Sharing more about students' study time, Master Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc said that depending on the profession, students have different time to absorb lessons. "Art and architecture students often concentrate at night, so they are often called "night owls". As for some other majors such as medicine, students have to go to clinical classes from 6 am", Master Ngoc said.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/vao-hoc-luc-6-gio-30-sinh-vien-than-day-tu-5-gio-van-lo-tre-185251030211739643.htm