Students attend a PE class at a middle school in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/CFP]

Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu province has been making great efforts to improve physical education for local young students.

Many primary schools in the city have offered various after-school PE classes such as recreational gymnastics, football, taekwondo, as well as track and field courses.

Suzhou Zhenhua Middle School recently established cooperative ties with the city's No 3 Amateur Sports School to provide go, chess, Chinese chess, and Gomoku classes. Such cooperation has been substantially increased since China issued guidelines to ease the burden of excessive homework and off-campus tutoring for students, according to Xie Jun, a chess coach at the sports school.

The PE classes have a positive effect on students' physical and mental health. Tang Jiaxuan, a student at Zhenhua Middle School who takes kayak courses, said the sport strengthens his willpower, decisiveness and team spirit.

Zhou Zhifang, head of the education bureau of Suzhou, said local education and sports authorities need to cooperate on introducing policies and education reform to improve students' fitness and train professional athletes.

Que Mingqing, head of Suzhou sports administration, said the department will take on a more active role in providing physical education to young students.