Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah has approved the policy to introduce Chinese language as a subject from Class VI to XII in all public and private institutions of the province from the academic session 2012-13.

The approval for this decision came at a meeting held at the CM House on Saturday.

As per the decision, the Chinese language classes will be introduced from Class VI and taught till Class VIII in the first phase as a non-credit subject replacing Arabic/Persian languages, which would be switched over to Class III to V, from the academic session 2012-13. The students who will take up the Chinese language subject will get incentives like stipends, scholarships, recreational trips and free books. With the passage of time, the system as well as human resources will be developed, following which the Chinese language will get the status of a compulsory subject.

In the second phase, Chinese will be introduced from Class IX to Class XII. Students who will be learning Chinese language from Class VI to Class VIII from the session 2012-13 will be embarking to Class IX to XII during the session 2015-16, and their exams will be held through the board, and they will be earning 20 marks as an incentive on the pattern of erstwhile NCC.

Later, the Chinese language will also be added/introduced at university level (under-graduate and graduate programmes) and research work could also be started with the passage of time. Besides, public and private universities would be requested to establish Chinese language faculty.

The policy envisages that the universities seeking charter shall have to have Chinese faculty. Initially, the teaching of Chinese language will be started in public and private cluster schools in each district of the province. The resource person, who will train the master trainers, may be arranged with the coordination, cooperation and help of Chinese Embassy/Consulate etc, while for master trainers, preference will be given to English language teachers of secondary and higher secondary schools, and they would be given incentives like appreciation certificates, visit to China, foreign trainings, stipend/ honorarium, etc.
Under the policy, training centers will be selected at the divisional headquarters, and centers from cluster schools will be selected in each district of the province.The news.