SHANGHAI education bureau has issued strict guidelines on plastic running tracks for local schools following recent reports of health scare across China.

Zhang Yueying, a counselor for the Shihua No. 1 Primary School in Jinshan District, confirmed that the school had received the notice this month.

The new guidelines made the tracks costlier but Zhang added the education bureau had agreed to bear the extra costs.

“Previously, it would cost 130 yuan (US$19) per square meters but now it costs 250 yuan, nearly double,” Zhang said. “The district education bureau said it will pay for the difference.”

The new standard insists on very specific requirements like the amount of chemical substance that can be used and the methods of taking samples.

It also requires that all materials used in the tracks have to be tested at the track-building site and samples must be taken in the presence of a witness.

Following criticism on adhesives, the new rules have included a segment on the amount of hazardous substances allowed in non-solid materials, including adhesives and surface spraying materials.

Plastic running tracks in schools sparked huge debate and criticism after several students reportedly fell sick across China.

Two kindergartens in Shanghai had to remove their newly laid tracks last year after parents complained that children were suffering from cough, itching and nosebleed after breathing noxious fumes emitted from the tracks.