Ryde MP Jordan Lane calls for school hours to be extended to 6pm because current timetable ‘sexist’

School hours should be extended to 6pm because the traditional 9am to 3pm class times are a “left over from a sexist, bygone era,” said a new Liberal MP.

Jordan Lane, 28, who became MP for Ryde by just a margin of 54 votes in the New South Wales election in March, used his maiden speech on Thursday to inflate current school hours and call for children to be kept inside school gates to be held until 6:00 PM.

“The great mockery of government policy would be for the education system of the 2050s to look like it did when it was established in the 1950s,” he said.

“It’s a holdover from a sexist, bygone era when society assumed women stayed home and were responsible for picking up from school.”

Mr Lane, who used to be NSW’s youngest mayor, called for the day to be extended to evening to be ‘more suitable for modern employment’.

“Local schools should become hubs for after-school activities where the government guarantees that a child must stay on school campuses until 6 p.m.,” he said.

“It offers parents flexibility while also making school a place for extracurricular excellence.”

Mr Lane said schoolchildren could use the extra year in school, such a measure would mean they would have a ‘more rounded experience’ by teaching classes on things like programming, art, music, language, sports and theatre.

Former Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet came up with the idea of ​​shifting school hours and ordered a trial of a longer day in 14 schools.

Mr Lane, who is an avid cyclist, said the measures would bring many benefits.

Mr Lane, pictured with former NSW Prime Minister Dominic Perrotet, used to be NSW’s youngest mayor

The fresh-faced MP won his seat in the March election by an extremely narrow margin of just 54 votes

“…greater flexibility for parents, a productivity and employment boost for the state, financial relief from the high cost of childcare, and an injection of hope for would-be but reluctant parents who like me struggle to rationalize how to afford – in terms of both time and money – children, a house and equal employability between partners,” he said.

Mr Lane partially echoed comments made by former Education and Early Childhood Education Minister Sarah Mitchell last year.

“The reality is that the traditional school day, like the 9 to 5 workday, is a 20th century concept that may not be the best model for 21st century families, schools and the community,” she said.

However, Ms Mitchell continued that it was not ‘necessarily about changing existing class times’.

Some social media users were critical of Mr Lane’s bold plans.

“School hours are about kids being able to learn and still have time to be kids and relax,” one wrote.

“Children are not there to meet our needs.”