Foshan Spring Break is coming! Government, schools, and enterprises are working together to ensure a joyful holiday for millions of students.

From April 2 to 3, all compulsory education stage schools in Foshan will welcome their first spring break, creating a five-day mini-holiday in connection with the Qingming Festival. As the first city in the province to implement a spring and autumn break pilot program across the entire city, Foshan has accumulated mature experience from the successful autumn break last year. Recently, reporters noticed that with Foshan welcoming its first spring break, the government, schools, and enterprises are once again collaborating, each putting forth practical measures. Departments such as human resources and social security have issued heartwarming initiatives to resolve childcare issues, while educational departments are creating over a hundred research and learning activities to enrich holiday life. Moreover, some companies are allowing employees to take spring break without adjusting their hours, ensuring that the spring break is both enjoyable and meaningful, allowing children to play happily and parents to be at ease.

Foshan’s three departments “call out” to employers: advocate for scientific holiday arrangements and flexible management

In response to the core pain point during the spring break of “children on holiday while parents are at work,” the Foshan Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, and the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce recently jointly issued an initiative. This initiative aims to alleviate difficulties for working families from three aspects: scientifically arranging holidays, providing flexible management, and conducting caring childcare. The initiative encourages employers to proactively assess employees’ vacation needs, prioritize the approval of paid leave requests during the spring break, and support employees in splitting annual leave to coincide with the Qingming holiday; it advocates for flexible options such as staggered leave, flexible working hours, and remote work to provide leave convenience for dual-income families; it also encourages qualifying units to utilize their own facilities to provide temporary care and various cultural and sports activities for employees’ children.

This spring break, many companies are responding with even higher enthusiasm and more practical measures. Recently, Foshan Qunzhi Optoelectronics Company directly introduced a no-adjustment policy for spring break, benefiting over a thousand employees and allowing them to fully accompany their children in research and learning activities, as well as outings. A responsible person from the company stated that synchronizing the spring break with students’ spring break is a proactive response to the city’s initiative and an important measure to enhance employee satisfaction and corporate cohesion.

Research and learning activities refreshed, walking classrooms expand knowledge

Allowing students to learn while playing and grow through practice is a key initial intention of setting the spring and autumn breaks in Foshan. Last autumn, the research and learning activities offered by Foshan, such as red education, intangible cultural heritage experiences, and nature exploration, were well-received by students and parents, becoming a “popular choice” during the holidays.

This spring break, Foshan will further improve the spring and autumn break system, guiding students to actively participate in social practice to ensure that students can “play with peace of mind and gain something valuable.”

According to reporters, during the spring break, the Municipal Education Bureau will collaborate with departments such as the Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, the Women’s Federation, and the Youth Palace to further enrich social practice activities. They will launch research and learning practice routes and organize various experiential activities around themes of folk customs, local feelings, and historical culture, guiding students to step out of the classroom and into real-life scenarios. Through immersive activities, students will be inspired to learn, enhance their comprehensive qualities, and deepen their recognition of local culture.

In the spring research and learning classrooms, there are both “Four Mountains and Two Rivers” agricultural exploration camps, where students can appreciate natural scenery and understand the concept of “thinking of the source,” immersively learning agricultural knowledge; and visits to the core workshops of “Bay Area Intelligent Manufacturing” for new energy vehicles, witnessing the wonders of automated production lines with robots. Meanwhile, major cultural and historical venues and scenic spots are simultaneously launching cultural tourism benefits for the public, with the Ancestor Temple Museum offering free admission to students in compulsory education, allowing students to gain knowledge while enjoying their visits.

To truly allow the “little ones” to relax and enjoy their holiday, Foshan has also made adequate bottom-line guarantees. To meet the diverse needs of different families during the spring break, the Foshan education department is also refining and detailing the on-campus childcare services. Each school will further improve the free on-campus childcare services, opening resources such as classrooms, libraries, and sports venues, and organizing activities such as cultural and sports games, reading guidance, comprehensive practice, and interest expansion. Schools that usually provide school buses, breakfast, lunch, and nap services will continue to do so during the spring and autumn breaks without charging for childcare services. At the same time, it is clearly required that schools must not conduct unauthorized collective remedial classes during the spring break and strictly control the total amount of homework.

From the initial exploration of last year’s autumn break to the comprehensive upgrade of this spring break, Foshan continues to refine the support measures for the spring and autumn break pilot program, with the government, schools, and enterprises working together to ensure that students broaden their horizons and gain growth during the holiday. Foshan is using the spring and autumn breaks as an opportunity to not only create a rich and colorful holiday life for children but also promote collaborative education among families, schools, and the community, filling the city with warmth and vitality.

Article by: Reporter Li Tingting