Students put their physical skills to the test

Wang Zongping, dean of the Sports Institute at Yunnan University, said the new rule simply follows the long-existing Ministry of Education requirement, and exemptions are given to students with disabilities or other conditions that prevent them taking the tests.

He told Xinhua News Agency that if students fail the tests, they are allowed to retake them multiple times after making appointments with teachers.

Wang said he does not think the requirements for the tests are very high, adding that the national stipulations have been lowered five times after being revised over the years.

For example, in 1989, male students were required to run 1,000 meters in 3 minutes 55 seconds to pass the test, but in 2014, the standard was lowered to 4 min 32 sec. For female students, the threshold for the 800-meter run was lowered to 4 min 34 sec in 2014, down from 3 min 50 sec in 1989, Wang said.

He added that there is no doubt that college students' fitness levels have fallen over the years, and that by including PE tests as a basic requirement for graduation, the university showed a strong determination to urge its undergraduates to develop the habit of physical exercise during four years in college.

Xiao Mingpeng, a junior student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that while he was unable to pass the test for the 1,000-meter run in his freshman year, he scored 70 points this semester after spending a lot of time exercising.

He said the weekly PE courses in high school were of little importance to him, as the gaokao does not include such tests.

Xiao sensed that his fitness levels had dropped significantly in high school, as he was under a great deal of academic pressure and spent little time exercising.

To improve his fitness and pass the tests after he entered university, he joined the institution's badminton, volleyball and swimming clubs.

In addition to passing the PE tests, Xiao said his weight fell by 15 kilograms after he devoted more time to PE.

Education authorities have resorted to what many observers view as the most effective approach to improve students' fitness levels－raising the importance of sports in crucial exams such as the zhongkao.

Yunnan has taken the lead by raising the total PE score required for the zhongkao from 50 points to 100. It was the first time a provincial-level region in China had given PE and the three major subjects of Chinese, mathematics and English equal importance in the exam.

Wang Dengfeng, head of the Ministry of Education's Department of Physical, Health and Arts Education, said the weighting of PE classes would be gradually increased nationwide to match those of academic subjects in the zhongkao. Research would also start on including PE scores in the gaokao.

Primary and secondary schools must provide students with one PE class a day, and universities are also encouraged to start such classes for postgraduate students, Wang said. These classes are not mandatory at present.

China provides 14 years of compulsory sports education, from the first grade to the second year of college. Despite this, many students do not learn a single sport, according to Wang.