On Feb. 21, the Office of the National School Football and Haidian District People’ Government, Beijing, signed a memorandum for reforming and developing a pilot area, making Haidian District the first pilot area for national school football reform.

Wang Dengfeng, the Director of the Office of National School Football and the Director of the Department of Physical, Health and Arts Education in the National Ministry of Education, indicated that: ”The pilot area of this comprehensive reform will cover all aspects of school football, and it will become a role model for other areas.”

 Liu Shengguo, the Deputy Director of Haidian District, said that Haidian District would start with schools football to proactively explore the new model of quality education. 

Haidian District published its Three-year Action Plan for Football in Haidian Primary Schools and Middle Schools in 2015. As stated in the plan, football should become a compulsory part of physical education (PE) classes, and the requirements of football classes for different schools are as follows: featured and experimental primary schools - at least 18 per semester; junior middle schools – at least 18 per year; high schools – at least 18 during a student’s school career. 

Source: xinhuanet.com

Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin