SINGAPORE — It was like a college mixer, a classroom full of young men and women seeking a recipe for romance.

They had assembled for the first class of "Love Relations for Life: A Journey of Romance, Love and Sexuality."

There was giggling and banter among the students, but that was all part of the course material as their teacher, Suki Tong, led them into the basics of dating, falling in love and staying together.

The course, which is in its second year at two polytechnic institutes, is the latest of many, mostly futile, campaigns by the government to get its citizens to mate and multiply. Its popularity last year has led to talk of expansion through the higher education system.