Thousands of school children in Beijing have begun an unprecedentedly long summer vacation this week as primary and middle schools are undergoing revamps to help buildings stand up to earthquakes.

In Haidian District of northwestern Beijing, 82 schools have concluded the spring semester by Saturday, almost six weeks ahead of schedule, to have their school buildings reinforced, a spokesman with the Beijing Education Bureau said.

Their students will therefore enjoy three full months of summer vacation compared with the usual six weeks, he said.

In Shijingshan District of western Beijing, about 20 schools -- one third of the total -- will undergo revamps this summer.

Education authorities in Fengtai District in southern Beijing said local libraries, museums and other children's activities centers will open to students seven days during the prolonged summer holidays.

Most schools under revamp began the spring semester a week in advance and gave seven classes a day instead of the usual six to make up for the time cuts. Some middle school students had classes also on Saturdays.

The 8.0-magnitude earthquake that shook the southwestern Sichuan Province in 2008 sounded an alarm for campus safety across China. Beijing alone decided 300 schools needed reinforcement to withstand quakes.

About 200 of these schools were revamped last summer.

The school safety campaign will also grant a prolonged summer vacation for more than 30,000 students in Jinan, capital of the eastern Shandong Province.

China's nationwide campaign to reinforce buildings at primary and high schools has helped 65,000 schools to meet quake-proof standards set by the central government, said State Councilor Liu Yandong during a tour to schools in Taiyuan and Xinzhou cities in the northern Shanxi Province in March.

Liu said the campaign benefited 50 million students.

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