Soccer and stagecraft get new school focus in Guangzhou

Guangzhou First High School is following the national strategy and taking steps to better promote physical education and performing arts, hosting soccer matches and drama performances on Nov 24.

A total of 30 primary and middle school soccer teams and 12 drama groups from across the country have descended upon the school to take part in the activities aimed at promoting quality, well-rounded education.

The events are sponsored by the National Institute of Education Sciences, Liwan district government of Guangzhou, and organized by Liwan district education bureau.

The soccer teams hail from 16 educational comprehensive experiment districts and counties in 13 provinces designated by the National Institute of Education Sciences.

Tian Huisheng, director of the institute, said that better sport and creative education is necessary in educational modernization. The institute launched research on campus soccer competitions in the experiment districts and counties last year.

For this year's soccer event, statistics technology will be used to better analyze team and individual player performances across a range of sporting categories. It will help to evaluate player ability and feed into team tactics and coaching.

As a key part of the physical education reform, on-campus soccer training has been promoted nationally, with 12 reform experimental areas, 102 pilot districts and counties and more than 20,000 soccer-specialty schools established, according to Wu Jian, director of sport, health and art education office of the institute.

Wu said that about 20 million school students across China play soccer frequently.