BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Claims by parents around China that the planned introduction of dance lessons to senior high schools would encourage young love and distract their children from study have been rejected by a Ministry of Education (MOE) official.

Earlier this month, the MOE announced that the waltz, together with six other group dances, would be introduced to China's primary and middle schools this September.

Parents with traditional values are alarmed at the prospect of boys and girls dancing hand in hand, believing the risk of their children falling in love and losing track of exam results would increase.

"Young love will not blossom through dancing, nor will it die through a lack of dancing," said Yang Guiren, an official in charge of art and physical education with the MOE.

He claimed that the dance experts involved in composing the dance had actually taken the problem of supposed heightened sexual tension into account.

"Four students will be grouped together to perform the waltz and they will change partners regularly as soon as one song finishes. This way, the risk of young love will be lowered," he said.

In recent years, "zao lian" - which literally means "early love"- has become a widely discussed issue in China, especially in big cities.

Some Chinese parents who have only one child worry that teenage relationship will ruin the academic careers of their children.

Yang believes that teenage students should avoid becoming involved in relationships because they are a waste of time and would have a negative impact on their studies. "Students need the right guidance," he said.

Yang also noted that the dance classes were aimed at enriching physical education lessons and improving students' physical fitness.

Besides helping to keep students fit, Yang said, the school group dances can cultivate their "aesthetic tastes".

Many people doubt whether schools will implement the dance programs given the exam-oriented education system due to a lack ofconcrete results that they can provide.

Yang said that the dance program was drawn up after surveying anumber of students. The findings showed that 72.3 percent of the students enjoy dancing and 75 percent of students prefer that boysand girls dance together.