China will allocate one billion yuan (about US$133 million) to buy sports facilities for primary and middle school students in rural areas of central and western China, a spokesman of the Ministry of Education (MOE) has said.

Wang Xuming said the fund would be used to buy common facilities for physical exercises, including basketballs and footballs, for schools in 18 provinces and municipalities in central and western China.

Wang said it was part of the "Sunshine Physical Education" program, launched by the MOE and started this year to improve the health of Chinese youth. It requires students to master at least two basic physical exercise skills and do sports at least one hour a day.

"The facilities will help the students in rural areas to take more exercises and master more skills," Wang said.

A national survey shows that one in four boys in Chinese cities is clinically overweighted.

And 58 percent of junior high school students are short-sighted, and the rate is 76 percent for senior high school students and 83 percent for college students.

Experts attributed the plummeting standards of youth health to modern lifestyles and the exam-oriented education system, under which students study for long hours and have little time for physical exercise.

Currently, 56 percent of China's students can do physical exercises one hour a day at present, but most of them are boys and girls in primary schools, according to Yang.

China's goal is to lift that figure to 85 percent in three years.

(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2007)