On some nights, Mr Michael Devakishen resorts to certain tactics to keep his 11-year-old daughter awake.

Beverly has a packed schedule of ballet and piano lessons and science, maths and Chinese tuition. There's daily school homework on top of that.

'Sometimes, when she has to stay up late because of so much homework, both my wife and I will keep her company by making noises in the kitchen, or singing songs just to keep her awake,' said Mr Devakishen, 41, a secondary school teacher.

While the Primary 5 pupil says she enjoys her extra-curricular activities, she also feels tired often.

Like Beverly, children all over Singapore aren't getting enough shut-eye on school nights.

In a poll of 200 primary school pupils by The Sunday Times, 62 said they slept seven hours or less a night, 64 managed eight hours while 74 had nine hours or more of rest.

Nearly half said they felt they weren't getting enough sleep each day, and homework and tuition were the top reasons they cited for turning in late.

'It is definitely a cause for concern,' said Dr Jenny Tang, deputy head of paediatric medicine at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, of children who suffer from sleep deprivation.

She has seen an increasing number of them checking in for sleep apnea, chronic sleep insufficiency because of school schedules, or behavioural sleep disorders.

The recommended number of hours a child between the ages of six and 12 should sleep a day is 10 to 11 hours, said Dr Tang.

Teens need nine hours while adults can get by with about eight.

Primary school pupils aren't the only ones lacking sleep. A poll of 940 students in 26 secondary schools last year revealed that 80 per cent of them were getting by with less than eight hours of sleep on school days, while only 2.6 per cent were getting the recommended nine hours.

A new study by the Asia-Pacific Paediatric Sleep Alliance also showed that infants and toddlers in Singapore got less sleep than their counterparts in the West.

The average bedtime for a Singaporean toddler is 9.45pm compared with about 8.30pm in Western countries.

Ask parents why they're not putting their kids to bed earlier during the week and they point the finger at schools which load the children with too much homework and activities.

Some kids make up for it during weekends by waking up later than usual.

Kathirevan Kalyanperumal, 10, has supplementary lessons, plus track and field and basketball training every day of the week, which means he ends up sleeping just 6-1/2 hours a night.

He is so tired that he often falls asleep on the bus ride to school and sometimes dozes off in class.

And he doesn't use weekends to catch up on sleep either. 'I force myself to stay awake on weekends to watch TV,' said the Primary 5 pupil. 'I won't be able to do it on school nights.'

His mother, Madam K. Bhargavi, 54, said that while Kathirevan used to sleep at 9.30pm, supplementary classes to prepare him for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) have meant pushing back his bedtime.

'I feel sorry for him because kids nowadays have so many things to do at school,' said the housewife.

Teachers say they see more children coming to school bleary-eyed; some even nod off in class.

'Parents want tuition for the children, teachers need to give them homework. Everyone is pushing the kids for results. It's a vicious circle,' said a Chinese-language primary school teacher who did not want to be named.

It's also not uncommon for children to stay back after school for two hours of co-curricular activities (CCA) at least once a week and hour-long remedial lessons three times a week.

An Education Ministry spokesman said that lower primary pupils are taught in Health Education that they should cultivate good daily habits, including having at least eight hours of sleep a day.

Mrs Kathryn Koh, principal of Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), said that her pupils tell her they have a lot to do, especially those in Primary 5 and Primary 6.

'It is common to hear pupils complaining about the difficulties of balancing extra enrichment classes and school work,' she said.

She added that play is an important part of a child's development. 'Some parents pack a child's day to 'keep him occupied', as they are not comfortable with the thought of their child 'idling' at home.'

Mr Martin Tan, principal of Anderson Primary School, said schools are conscious of the need for pupils to have sufficient rest and family time.

'It boils down to time management and this is where parents need to work closely with their children to ensure they are spending their time at home wisely and making the right choices,' he said.

Indeed, discipline is lacking in many homes today, and that could be why children are going to bed later, say teachers.

'The children's parents work and the maids can't control them, so they often do whatever they wish in the afternoons,' said one primary school teacher.

Mr Devakishen suggests that schools introduce a flexible schedule where homework is given out three days in advance.

'This way, the children would have more time to complete their homework and their schedules could be worked out better,' he said.

If good grades are what parents and teachers are after, they should know that sleep deprivation can affect a child's attention, memory, decision-making and creativity.

It can also cause him to become more irritable and can even lead to behavioural problems like hyperactivity and disobedience.

As Primary 3 pupil Marcus Jerome Devakishen put it: 'Sometimes, I just want to sleep a little longer in the morning.'

dawntan@sph.com.sg

Additional reporting by Alvin Lim and Priscilla Goy

Do you think children in Singapore are sleeping enough and if not, how can they be made to sleep more? Send your comments to suntimes@sph.com.sg

Do your children sleep 10 hours a night? Click to take part in our poll

Valarie Yap, 11

P5 at Gongshang Primary School

Sleeps: 11.50pm-5.50am

6 hours

Kathirevan Kalyanperumal, 10

P5 at Anderson Primary School

Sleeps: 11pm-5.30am

6.5 hours

Sharifah Nur Arina, 10

P4 at Anderson Primary School

Sleeps: 11.30pm-6.30am

7 hours

Gabriel Yik, 12

P6 at Gongshang Primary School

Sleeps: 11pm-6.30am

7.5 hours

Beverly Anne Devakishen, 11

P5 at Gongshang Primary School

Sleeps: 10.15pm-6.15am

8 hours