SHANGHAI, June 5 -- THE Ministry of Education has ordered all students in primary and secondary schools around the country to learn to dance.

They are expected to perform a dance every day at school starting from the new term beginning on September 1.

Boys and girls in senior high schools will be required to learn to waltz.

The ministry will promote the nationwide adoption of seven sets of student group dances in the coming semester, the Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday.

The ministry said that the time for dancing will be during class breaks or in extra-curricular physical exercise time.

The dances won't take the place of physical exercises during the break but will be an addition to existing exercise.

Each set of dances will last four to five minutes and schools can map out the time for students to dance one or several sets, the report said.

The seven designated dances are "Good Friends," "Sunny Campus," "Little White Boat" for primary schools; "Youth Melody" and "The Yangge Dance" for junior high schools; and "The Young" and "The Waltz" for senior high schools.

The ministry began training dancing instructors this month. The first set of sample performances has been put on video discs and will be sent to provincial education departments.

The ministry said it took two years for experts to create the group dances and to make them appropriate for the physical and mental characteristics of the different age groups of the students.

The ministry plans to bring out a new set of group dances every two years, the report said.