After Chinese food, toys, crackers, its now the language (Mandarin) that is set to attract Indians. A School in Hyderabad has started offering the Chinese language from Grade I to VI.
About 20 students this year are learning mandarin as the third language at the Rockwell International school, started a few years ago by a group of Indian and Non-Resident Indians.
Just like America is considered the land of opportunity for global workforce, so will be China in the near future. Hence, we started teaching our tiny tots Mandarin, says Mr Subhash Boda, Chairman and Managing Director of the School.
The School has also tied up with
Many Indians speak English. But, knowing Mandarin will certainly give greater international competitiveness. Union Minister Kapil Sibal is already supporting the idea of introducing Mandarin, he states. With the number of Chinese companies growing in India and vice versa, the demand for the language is set to grow.
The CBSE's notification issued last year too supports this view of introducing Mandarin language from sixth standard. Already, some leading B-Schools are teaching courses in Mandarin. The Jawaharlal Nehru University, which has been offering the language for sometime has nearly 200 students.
Mr Subhash said that Taiwan pledges support to supply 10,000 Mandarin teachers for India. The high schools in India which are beginning to teach Mandarin as second foreign language are in need of 10,000 Chinese teachers informed Deputy Education Minister of Taiwan Lin TSong recently in India.