Some overweight or small students in east China's Shandong Province are currently working out in order to enter better middle schools.

Local education authority in east China's Shandong province says five points have been set aside from the total 60-point physical criteria, including 50-meter run and sit-ups. The policy has generated controversy amongst the public recently.

Qilu Evening News reports that many parents in Ji'nan, capital city of Shandong Province, complained about the standard of height and weight, which will partially determine the future of their children's education in middle schools.

The paper quotes a mother, surnamed Wang, as saying she has prepared a concrete diet for her kid, who is quite overweight according to the physical standard.

Other parents complained that they are fine with the standards, but it's unfair to judge children's middle school admission by their physical fitness without much consideration.

A professor of education from Beijing-based Renmin University says the physical enrollment standard for middle school students has been used nationwide for at least three years, which calls for more rational and healthier exercises in primary schools.

However, he adds that height and weight, which vary individually, are attributable to genetic and other reasons, suggesting that such rules should be adjusted to some extent.