The walls of the classroom were decorated with Olympics-themed paper-cuttings and paintings with a sporting theme, while a projector showed photos of sports competitions and students answering questions on Olympic values. This was a class focusing on the Olympic Games at the High School affiliated to the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts and an example of how profound an effect the Olympic Games has had on China.

The modern Olympic Games have been through 110 years of development, growing far beyond the sports competition itself. The cultural and educational value embedded in the Olympics has gained increasing importance across the world. Recently the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and the Ministry of Education made an inspection tour of the country's elementary and secondary schools to examine the education system.

Good opportunity

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) requests that the Olympic host city and the country where the host city is located should propagate Olympic knowledge and carry forward the Olympic spirit. This has provided a good opportunity to foster positive qualities among China's youth.

In order to do this, BOCOG and the Ministry of Education worked out the Beijing 2008 Elementary and Secondary School Olympic Education Program, launching Olympic education among 400 million young people in China in 2005.

The program intended to oversee the development of 500 "Olympic education model schools" nationwide, with more than 200 of them in Beijing. The aim of those schools is to push forward the Olympic spirit.

Beijing named the first batch of 20 model schools for Olympic education on December 6, 2005. These model schools have put Olympic education into their curriculum, with two compulsory hours of Olympic education a week as well as other activities.

Students at Huajiadi Experimental Primary School established a mini-Olympic organizing committee under the guidance of their teachers and experienced Olympic preparatory work during extracurricular activities.

The High School affiliated to the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts launched a painting contest involving some 2,000 students who depicted their understanding of and longing for the Olympics, while Yanhua High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University encouraged students to take part in physical exercises in the Olympic spirit, underlining the importance of participation.

Olympic education has changed the thinking and work methods of teachers, while the students have broadened their vision and gained a better understanding of other cultures, said Principal of the High School affiliated to the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts, Han Dasheng.

Educational achievements

The inspection found that the 200 model schools in Beijing have developed many original and practical educational modes to plant and spread the spirit and culture of the Olympics, said one member of the BOCOG inspection team.

The educational achievements were also acknowledged by the IOC, which said in the latest issue of the monthly publication Olympic Review that Olympic education in Beijing has been spreading the Olympic spirit at a level that the world has never seen before.

On November 25, 2007, the Beijing Olympic Education International Forum was held in Beijing, with the theme "The Olympics: Education and Comprehensive Development of People." The forum discussed how to promote Olympic education and how to create a lasting legacy of the Olympics for China's youth.

During the two-day forum, more than 30 experts and scholars, including the Director of the Beijing office of UNESCO, Yasuyuki Aoshima, and the Olympic education special advisor of the IOC, Deanna Binder, made speeches and held discussions on the topic.

The Olympic education experts discussed how to promote Olympic education in a more effective way and summarized various achievements of the Beijing Olympic education work, leaving a rich cultural legacy for the Olympic Games.

The forum will facilitate Olympic education with the support of the whole education system and promote Olympic education in an all-round way, according to Du Songpeng, Deputy Director of the