Physical education will be introduced as a Leaving Certificate subject in the school year 20012002, the Minister of Education and Science, Mr Martin, has told a conference of PE teachers and inspectors in Cork.
A survey carried out last year by the European Physical Education Association found that Irish schoolchildren of all ages do less physical education than their counterparts in 25 European countries.
Mr Martin said he had asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to investigate the inclusion of PE in the Leaving Certificate and hoped it would have a draft document ready before the end of the current school year.
A project to prepare course material for PE at Junior Certificate level is being piloted at present in 60 schools. "The current position where physical education resides on the fringes of the school curriculum must not continue into the next century," Mr Martin said.