The initiative was a response to requests from students seeking more time to make new friends and “experience the beauty of love“, the schools said.

Nine Chinese vocational educational institutions have granted their students a week’s holiday so they can “enjoy love” amid the country’s declining birth rate problem.

The schools, run by the Fan Mei Education group, announced that the week off would run from 1-7 April. The rest period extends the bank holidays of Qingming by one day.

“The school implements the spring holiday system in the hope that students can learn to love nature, love life and enjoy love,” Liang Guohui, vice dean of Mianyang Aviation Vocational School, said in a statement.

China will be proposing to limit young people’s working hours to boost birth ratesLiang also expressed the hope that students will feel “the breath of spring” by enjoying the water and green mountains: “This will not only broaden students’ horizons and cultivate their feelings but also enrich and deepen the content studied in the classroom.

Liu Ping, the vice-dean of the Southwest Sichuan Aviation Vocational School, said they launched the spring break initiative in response to students’ requests for more time to make new friends and “experience the beauty of love“.

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