KARACHI: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is leading to large numbers of Pakistanis learning Mandarin, the official language of China, with at least five religious seminaries in Karachi offering courses.
鈥淧eople are willing to offer high salaries to anyone who knows Mandarin,鈥� Jawad Madani, who runs the Jamia Sattaria Islamia religious school, told Arab News.
Unlike other religious institutes, Madani鈥檚 views languages as a medium of communication rather than a tool of cultural invasion.
鈥淲e started teaching Mandarin about two years ago. Initially, we enrolled students once or twice a year,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut demand has increased to a level that we鈥檝e almost started admitting new students on a monthly basis.鈥�
The University of Karachi has established the Confucius Institute, which has nearly 400 students and employs several Chinese instructors.
The provincial government of Sindh has gone one step further by introducing a teachers鈥� training program.
鈥淲e plan to train about 200 teachers of Mandarin within a year,鈥� said Liaquat Ali Jamro, one of the directors at the province鈥檚 vocational training authority. 鈥淭hese teachers will then be deployed in 12 regional centers.鈥�
Jamro said the provincial authorities want to take this program to all major districts of Sindh. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a demand-driven phenomenon,鈥� he added.
鈥淭he idea is to harness the financial potential of CPEC and help our people benefit from the project.鈥�
Given the growing number of people who are eager to learn Mandarin, many private entities have also decided to enter the burgeoning business.
鈥淚nitially the number of students was in the hundreds, but the situation has changed and thousands of people are looking for admissions,鈥� said Madani.
鈥淭here are also several businesses that have reached out to us. Many of them are even willing to hire our students who are still at the beginner鈥檚 level.鈥�
For most of the students, money is the main motivation, 30-year-old Usman Hanif told Arab News. This realization led him to enroll in the Confucius Institute.
Hanif said he could find a lucrative job not only in Pakistan but anywhere in the region, since China鈥檚 One Belt One Road is an international initiative.
Some experts in Urdu, Pakistan鈥檚 national language, have welcomed this trend and describe it as a necessary part of cultural diffusion.
鈥淭his will not entail drastic consequences for our language,鈥� said poet and linguist Sehar Ansari.
鈥淲e should learn the Chinese language since that will introduce us to people who speak that language and open new avenues of success.鈥�