Required PE scores to be raised on nation's high school entrance exams

China will gradually increase required scores on the physical exercise test to the same level as those of Chinese, math and English on high school entrance exams to improve physical education in schools, a senior education official said on Friday.

Wang Dengfeng, head of the department of physical, health and arts education at the Ministry of Education, said Yunnan province is the only provincial region in China to give PE classes the same weight as academic subjects on high school entrance exams, and other regions should gradually increase the weight of PE classes to match those of academic subjects.

The country should also immediately start research on including PE classes in the national college entrance exam, or gaokao, Wang said at a news conference.