School: Is It Not Permissible For Children To Take Breaks?
In many schools, if not to say almost all of them, it is common practice to ban children from all or part of their breaks. Why? For example, because they didn’t behave well or didn’t do their homework. Maybe they couldn’t do the given material, or maybe they just talked too much in class.
There are even some cases where teachers do not allow students to take breaks if they have to go to the bathroom during the lesson. But all children have the right to take breaks. It is also a necessity for their physical and mental health. However, the ban on taking breaks is still a common form of punishment.
You can find more information on this topic below. This will give you a better understanding of why it is not appropriate for children to take breaks.
The break: a right of the children
Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “ Everyone has the right to rest and leisure and, in particular, to reasonable limitation of working hours and regular paid leave ”. And that includes children, of course. They too have the right to rest and reasonable limitation of their working hours.
The “working day” for children between 3 and 12 years is approximately 5 hours. There are even some who also have lunch at school or stay in school for extracurricular activities. Then your “working day” can last up to 9 hours. This is without a doubt a long day …
During such a day there is usually a 30-minute break in the morning. Then the time has come for relaxation and play. And that is a right that all children have.
This right is anchored in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child : “ The contracting states recognize the child’s right to rest and leisure, to play and age-appropriate active recreation and to free participation in cultural and artistic life ”.
Therefore, a ban on breaks is to be seen as an abuse of the power of the teacher or the institution. Because the school holidays do not belong to the teachers alone. You are the right of children. So the situation is like this: No internal system of punishments in an educational institution can simply override what is established by the constitution or international conventions.
Why are school breaks so important for children?
A ban on taking breaks is really not doing children any good. Because the school breaks are really important to them: mentally, physically, emotionally and also socially. This moment of free play and unstructured activity is fundamental to children’s development and health.
Because this little space enables them to develop their social skills. And they also learn to share something with others. These moments are also important for developing your communication skills and learning how to solve problems. In addition, they can simply let off steam and reduce tension during the breaks.
The breaks are also very important from a purely school perspective. Because in order to learn better, children need a break after a learning phase. So they can process the information. This time is just as important as a math class or language class.
There is also a need to charge energy. The children need the opportunity to be physically active. Because that makes a positive contribution to improving school performance and the behavior of the children. In addition, this free time to relax is particularly useful for children with behavioral or learning problems. These include attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for example.
So why shouldn’t children be punished with no breaks?
The breaks in school are an essential part of the development of the little ones. And they are also of great importance in the social interaction that children should have in school. It also gives them the opportunity to recover from the demands of school.
Playing is a very basic activity for children. These cannot be forbidden or withheld from them. Schools should therefore not use the ban on breaks as a form of punishment. Rather, they have to look for other methods to positively influence the behavior of children in the event of missteps.
Therefore, parents should ensure that their children’s rights are fulfilled and, if necessary, ask the school not to impose a ban on breaks as a punishment. Because the school should react to possible behavioral problems of the children with educational measures and not with coercive measures. Therefore it is necessary to look for other solutions. Those that do not jeopardize the children’s right to recreation and leisure.
Because by being forbidden to take breaks , the children also learn at the same time that they have to submit to unjust situations without being able to express their opinion. Likewise, in this way they learn that their needs are irrelevant; and that they cannot change what they believe is unjust.
