Students learning how to use a saw in a life-skill class on Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. (Photo: Xinhua)

Senior high school students in east China's Zhejiang Province can learn life skills such as how to make a stool or how to repair a flat tire.

The China Youth Daily reported Monday that, starting this semester, junior high schools in Zhejiang opened a new course teaching students practical lifeskills.

Guan Guanghai, a researcher from the province's education department, said the course is designed to teach students such skills as repairing a toilet flush or even changing a light bulb.

He raised the example of teaching how to make a portable stool. Students have to sketch out an image of their design based on information they collect about stools already on sale. The researcher believes the course will encourage an innovative spirit among the students.

The course includes nine textbooks focusing on specialized knowledge in different fields including house-keeping, clothes design, agricultural techniques, and architecture. Students will be evaluated both by a written test and product design, the report said. The province has deployed over 1,200 teachers who have been trained for the new curriculum.

Due to the large amount of manual work and experiments the course requires, schools have to furnish classrooms with such equipment as lathes and welding machines. The budget for a well-equiped classroom like that is 150, 000 yuan.

Some parents applauded the school's new move, saying it is necessary to dispel their children's laziness. But others worry the course will add to the academic burdens already carried by high-school students.

Students who have taken part in the course think it is more fun than other classes.

Students learning how to use an electric drill in a life-skill class on Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. (Photo: Xinhua)

(CRI.cn September 17, 2007)