German high school bans homework

A German high school has decided to do away with homework to help pupils unwind, school officials said. The homework ban at Elsa-Brandstrom high school in North Rhine-Westphalia came after Germany's high school system cut a year, making school days longer, The Local.de reported. Head teacher at Elsa-Brandstrom, Brigitte Fontein, told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper Friday that generally "no child would be having their free time dominated by doing school work." Instead, class time would be used to do more work, as the school has mostly double periods, explained Fontein. Most parents are in favor of the change. Michael von Tettau, also from the Elsa-Brandstrom, said that for students, "there is barely enough time for sport or to learn a musical instrument," and a 44-hour working week was just too much, he added. The school will test-run the homework ban for the next two year to see how effective it is, school officials said.