Spring break is a U.S. phenomenon and an academic tradition which started during the 1930s in the United States and is observed in some other western countries. Spring break is also a vacational period in early spring at universities and schools in various countries in the world, where it is known by names such as Easter vacation, Easter holiday, April break, spring vacation, mid-term break, study week, reading week, reading period, or Easter week, depending on regional conventions. However, these vacations differ from spring break in the United States.
Spring break is an academic tradition in various mostly western countries that is scheduled for different periods depending on the state and sometimes the region.
In Japan, the spring break starts with the end of the academic year in March and ends on April 1 with the beginning of a new academic year.
In South Korea, the spring break starts in mid-February (the end of the academic year) and ends on March 1 (a national holiday) with the beginning of a new academic year.
In the Czech Republic, only primary and secondary school students have a spring break. The break is one week long and the date of the break differs from county to county to avoid overcrowding of the break destinations in the Czech Republic (Czechs usually travel to the mountains to ski there). The counties are divided into six groups, each group containing counties evenly distributed across the country. The first group starts the holiday on the first Monday of February, the last group starts the holiday five weeks later (usually in early March). The last group of counties becomes the first one to have the spring break the next year.
Before 2017, the spring break in the country of Georgia was typically an Easter holiday, lasting from Thursday to Tuesday in the Holy Week. In 2017, the new Minister of Education and Science of Georgia Aleksandre Jejelava made a new reform by which, students of preschools, elementary & high schools as well as colleges and universities get six days of holiday in March, lasting from March 8 to March 15, for people to go on winter vacations or do other activities.
In Germany, universities typically schedule a semester break of five to eight weeks around March. The Whitsun (Pentecost) holidays around late May or early June are also considered a spring break.