A SCHOOL in Putuo District last month made golf a compulsory sport for its 400 first- and second-graders.

If it proves popular, older children at the Experimental School of Foreign Languages Affiliated to East China Normal University will be allowed to play, its Principal Xia Haiping said yesterday.

The scheme was introduced in February, so that "pupils can learn a new kind of sport that is popular internationally," she said.

Youngsters are taught basic skills, such as putting and swinging, once a week.

According to an AFP report, China has world-class fairways and an emerging crop of young players, but officials have shut dozens of courses down while the Communist Party last year banned its members from accepting free club memberships as part of a crackdown on corruption. Xia appeared unperturbed by such facts.

"We are just giving students an opportunity to learn the sport," she said, adding that the school "has never considered the political issues."

Xiong Bingqi, deputy head of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, shared the opinion.

"I don't think it's a problem for the school to teach students ... golf is just one way in which corruption is manifest. It could be other things," he said.

Xia said that if any of her pupils show promise, the school might be able to develop the lessons further.

"It's enough to let students get to know golf, but we will give more support to those who have potential," she said.

"As a foreign language school, we are internationally oriented and would like to introduce more cultures to our students," Xia said.

"When learning golf, they can also improve their sociability."

The principal said the lessons were run by three professional golf teachers from a program launched by Shanghai Century Publishing Group to popularize golf among juvenile, and said her PE teachers are also learning golf as part of the program.

First-grader Lin Yuchen said he likes the new scheme.

"I feel happy when I see the green and hit the ball a long way," he said.