Primary school teachers in northeast China are queuing up for divorce after local authorities issued a notice that all teachers except widows and divorcees would face the axe.

With the teachers busy getting divorced to keep their jobs, a primary school in Dandong city of Northeast China's Liaoning province has suspended classes since Monday.

Some 40 teachers have signed their divorce papers before September 6, according to a teacher at the Tongxing Centre Primary School in the Zhenan district.

The divorce spree came after the district's education bureau issued a notice, saying that local authorities were going to cut the number of teachers at primary and middle schools.

However, those who are divorced or widowed with children to support would be exempted from the job cut, the notice said.

The Tongxing Centre Primary School will have to dismiss 11 teachers, according to the document.

'Every teacher fears losing the job because of the present high-pressure job market, though they don't want to divorce,' Beijing [Images] News quoted a male teacher at the school as saying.

The school headmaster tried to persuade these teachers to remarry, but it hasn't worked, the paper said.

Zhenan District Education Bureau Director Zhao said the policy is carried out in the spirit of creating a 'superior' education department.

Zhao said some teachers took advantage of the fact that there is not an exact time limitation for divorce in the document.

A special investigative group established by the Zhenan District Education Bureau is designated to seek out fake divorces, the report said.