China to monitor students' fitness nationwide

BEIJING - China will carry out fitness monitoring for school children nationwide from 2013 in a bid to boost students' physical health, Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said on Monday.

The monitoring will be conducted by a third-party institution and the monitoring result will be released to the students' parents timely, Yuan said at a meeting on addressing the sports work in schools.

Sports work concerns children's physical and mental health, and their lifetime happiness, said Yuan.

He urged that schools must guarantee the class hours of physical education, and should not occupy PE classes with any excuses

For schools and regions where students' health keeps declining for consecutive three years, they will undoubtedly be vetoed in evaluation of educational qualities, the minister said.

China has tried a series of measures in recent years to promote physical education in schools. However, the physical health of school children remains worrisome.

Official statistics shows that overweight and poor eyesight have become apparent problems among school children. About 67.33 percent of students aged between 13 and 15 and 79.2 percent of students aged between 19 to 22 have vision deficiency.