Key Points
- An NSW MP says school hours are "sexist".
- Ryde MP Jordan Lane said school hours should be extended until 6pm.
- He said this would allow parents more flexibility.
School hours are a "relic of a sexist" era, according to an NSW state MP, who has proposed children stay at school until 6pm to make life easier for working mums juggling pickups.
Jordan Lane, the Liberal member for the Sydney seat of Ryde, used his first speech to parliament to argue that the 9am to 3pm schedule followed by most schools needs to be extended but children shouldn't necessarily be in class for longer.
He said that the school system in the 2050s should look different from the model established in the 1950s.
"No longer can we get by with a system that was structured in an era when women did not work, and households were comfortably sustained on a single income," he said.
"It is a relic of a sexist, bygone era, when society assumed women stayed at home and were responsible for the school pick-up."
Mothers should not be forced to choose between their own career progression and raising children.
"I think about this a lot in the context of my own partner," he said.
Mr Lane also pointed to the money families would save on childcare if their children were at school for longer.
Ryde MP Jordan Lane suggested schools could become hubs for after-school activity. Credit: Facebook
for over 1 million Australian families in July due to an injection of funding in the federal budget.
Mr Lane suggested children could participate in coding classes, culture and language, art, dance, music, and sport, after the traditional school day ends.
He said this would create additional jobs.
"Local schools should become hubs for after-school activity, where the Government guarantees that a child can remain on school campuses until 6pm," he said.
"It affords parents flexibility, while at the same time making school a place for extracurricular excellence."
Mr Lane won a tight battle during the state's election in March.
The Ryde MP previously served as the area's mayor, having been elected to council in late 2017, aged 23.
