November 20, 2013, 12:03 pm
The Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) is getting 25 teachers for Delhi schools to teach Chinese after Indian teachers failed to learn it.
For the pilot project, CBSE has tied with Hanban � China’s national office for teaching Chinese as a foreign language � to get teachers for 25 schools, which include five Delhi government schools, five Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, five Kendriya Vidyalayas and 10 private schools.
The teachers will arrive next month. Demand for learning Chinese has been growing in keeping with the rise of China and its increasing trade with India. In 2011, CBSE introduced Chinese as a foreign language but had to withdraw it in January 2012 as Indian teachers couldn’t pick up the language.
"The teachers from Hanban will work as full-time teachers in 25 affiliated schools. Salaries and hospitality has been worked out and will be borne jointly by the schools and government agencies. In case of private schools, the school management will bear the cost. They will be in India in December," said CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi.
In September 2010, then HRD minister Kapil Sibal had said students in large numbers would learn Chinese and 200 Indian teachers would be trained in the first phase. CBSE then announced the introduction of Chinese, starting in class VI as the third language (optional), from the 2011-12 academic session.
