Swimming lessons which are currently being provided only to third graders in elementary schools will be expanded to cover fourth to sixth graders.
 
The Education Ministry announced on Tuesday that it will support schools' efforts to strengthen physical and fine arts education.
 
Under the plan, swimming classes will be expanded until 2018, starting with regions that have swimming facilities. Out of ten hours of a one-year swimming program, two hours will be spent teaching students survival swimming techniques.
 
Swimming pools have been built in Daegu, Gyeonggi Province, South Jeolla Province and Daejeon this year. By 2018, six more regions will see pools built.
 
The Education Ministry will also help provide roughly 15-thousand violins to one-thousand elementary and middle schools as part of efforts to provide an instrument to each student.
 
The provision of instruments will be mainly carried out for schools with a poor music environment and that have implemented the free semester system.