CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has made it mandatory for all schools, including private institutions across the State to conduct physical education classes for the students studying from Class six to 12 from this academic year.

The School Education department has issued detailed guidelines for conducting physical education classes.

A senior official from the department on Sunday said there were reports and complaints that many private schools failed to conduct physical education classes and had instead used those periods for special classes last year.

Following this, all the district physical education inspectors have been instructed to immediately report the details of schools with unsed play grounds.

The guidelines further said in addition to the physical education classes, special sports training should be provided for students interested in sports after school hours.

The officials were also instructed to identify schools that have achieved success in one or more disciplines at the state and national level sports competitions.