Liu Minxia

    A national campaign to encourage students to run to keep healthy over the winter has sparked public controversy. Many Shenzhen schools haven’t asked school children to run although the campaign was required to start on October 26.

    The campaign, launched by the Ministry of Education with the aim of improving student health and endurance, requires students from primary schools to run 1 km, middle school students to run 1.5 km, and those at high schools and colleges to run 2 km every school day until the end of April.

    Although teachers and parents acknowledge the ministry’s good intentions, many consider the program impractical and difficult to implement.

    “We have only organized students in second and third grades to run due to the lack of running tracks,” said Luo Jianzhong, headmaster of Shenzhen’s Xinzhou Middle School. “It’s not practical to require all the students to run. We have facilities for badminton, table tennis and tennis, and running might be more suitable for rural schools that lack facilities.”

    Cheng Nengquan, headmaster at Jingpeng Primary School, echoed Luo’s comments. “I’m in favor of the program but it’s difficult to implement. We have a running track of only about 100 meters. There isn’t enough space to have all the students on the track, let alone to run,” Cheng said.

    Dozens of other Shenzhen schools, including Meishan Primary School, OCT Middle School and Shekou

    Primary

    School, still haven’t implemented the program yet, either because they don’t have enough running tracks or because they consider the weather still too hot for running.

    Some parents worry their children are not strong enough to endure such heavy exercise. “Taking some exercise is good for my daughter’s health, but mandatory running is unacceptable,” said a mother called Su Wandi.

    A mother surnamed Jiang, waiting for his son outside the Meilin Primary School on Friday, said she hoped the program would help her 11-year-old shed some weight. “My son doesn’t like sports and I worry about his health when I see him getting rounder and rounder,” Jiang said.

    However, students who have little interest in long-distance running said they should have the right to refuse. “Long-distance running is boring. I would rather play ball games,” said Wang Zhenwei of Meilin High School.

    At Xinzhou Middle School, third-grade students were more enthusiastic about running as it would be tested during their entrance examination to high school, Luo said.

    But Lu Ping, a third-grade middle school student, said he was too busy to run.

    “We are fully engaged preparing for exams and have no time to run every day,” Lu said.

    “The requirements by the ministry are not excessive. It is because of their weak bodies that many students can’t complete the tasks,” said Liu Manjiang, an official with the sports bureau of Longgang District. “Parents should guide students to engage in more sports.”