The MOE held a symposium in Hefei, Anhui Province, on Dec. 27 to comprehensively advance reform of physical education (PE) in primary and secondary schools. Vice Minister of Education Wang Jiayi attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

The meeting took note of effective measures adopted by local educational authorities to raise physical education standards in recent years under the guidance of the “Health Comes First” principle.

The meeting highlighted the focus areas of PE reform: increasing total physical activity time in school; emphasizing the role of sports in encouraging students to exercise; encouraging selected schools to explore and share innovative teaching practices; and improving the PE evaluation mechanism. The meeting also stressed the need to enhance the PE teacher workforce and improve training facilities and equipment.

Officials from the educational departments of 12 provinces and municipalities shared their suggestions at the symposium. In addition, representatives of several MOE departments and provincial educational departments, as well as scholars and experts, attended the symposium.

During his trip to Hefei, Minister Wang also visited some local schools to investigate issues such as school safety, food safety, and school meal expense management.