The school code of 1814 had made practice in gymnastics obligatory, in the case of boys, at all elementary schools (_Folkeskoler_), whether town or country. A law of 1904 extended its provisions to include girls, as well; and within six years of that date more than 95 per cent of the girls in town and city elementary schools and nearly 50 per cent of those in the country were receiving such instruction. Lack of suitable rooms was the greatest difficulty which confronted the country schools. To meet this condition the _Rigsdag_ voted that beginning with April 1, 1907, the state should bear one-half of the expense (up to 15,000 Kr.) incurred by any community in building a gymnasium (_Gymnastikhus_) for its schools. Two years later the grant was increased, so as to include town schools, and made to cover the cost of providing playgrounds also. It became necessary to withhold state aid after April 1, 1911, on account of financial stringency, but up to that time nearly 300 gymnasia had been erected in the country regions, at an average cost of about 5000 Kr. By the following year (1912) 488 country schools had gymnasia of their own, and 559 others were using rented gymnasia, usually those which belonged to rifle clubs. The other two-thirds of the 3500 or more country schools were obliged to content themselves with exercise out of doors on the playgrounds, which are gradually being equipped with such gymnastic apparatus as stall bars, Swedish horizontal bars, bucks, vaulting boxes, etc. Not content with merely providing facilities for physical education, the _Rigsdag_ also appropriated funds sufficient for the appointment of 17 _Gymnastikkonsulenter_ (14 men and 3 women, most of them trained in the one-year course) or assistants to the state inspector of gymnastics, who are able to visit nearly 900 schools a year, arousing interest in teachers, pupils, and parents, demonstrating the proper handling of a class, meeting the teachers for conference and suggestions, and in general working for a better understanding of the object and means of physical education and greater uniformity in methods. A step which has done much to improve the standing of gymnastics in higher schools was the decision to grade pupils on their work in this subject, in connection with two of their public examinations (the _Mellemskoleeksamen_, since 1907, and _Realeksamen_, since 1908, but not yet in the final or _Studentereksamen_), and to give to such a grade (_Aarskarakter_) equal value with those secured in any other branch of study or practice.