søndag 25. mai 2025

Longer hours, better grades? China pushes weekend breaks for high school students, parents push back

The school day begins just after 7.30am and ends past 9.40pm, well after nightfall. Two breaks punctuate the gruelling 14-hour study stretch - a two-hour lunch recess and a one-hour dinner break. This is the rhythm of academic life for Nian Nian (not her real name), a second-year high school student in China’s Yichun city in south-eastern Jiangxi province.

"My days in school are spent doing almost nothing but studying,” the 17-year-old told CNA. But she has a welcome reprieve for two days each week, being given the full weekend off.

On paper, all high schools in China are supposed to put in place this practice ofThat hasn’t been the case. And now, the matter has come under the spotlight after recent enforcement efforts by education authorities ahead of the gaokao, the fiercely competitive national college entrance examination held in early June.“shuangxiu”, as it is called in Chinese. The term literally means double rest.