Shortly after the pilot scheme was announced, concerns were raised that many parents would be unable to collect their children from school at 2pm because of commitments at work. In response to this, OBEC announced that the length of the school day would remain unchanged. Schools would finish at 4pm, as usual, however extracurricular activities would be arranged between 2pm and 4pm to occupy the students’ ‘free time’ – a move which threatens to undermine the innovation’s original intentions.
OBEC has since released details of four programmes that schools are being asked to develop in order to meaningfully occupy the students’ ‘free time’. The four programmes are: