KARACHI: The Government of Balochistan and Chinese authorities have started taking initiatives to provide the local population with work in Gwadar鈥檚 job market.
Gwadar, a Pakistani port city, acquired immense importance because of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). However, the local population is considered one of the poorest in Balochistan, the largest Pakistani province.
鈥淐hief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has instructed the administration of Gwadar Development Authority schools to start Chinese language classes for the local population as soon as possible,鈥� Balochistan Minister for Information and Higher Education Mir Zahoor Buledi told Arab News.
The purpose of these classes, Buledi said, is to enable the local population to learn Chinese to get jobs in CPEC projects.
鈥淥ur government aims to provide the maximum benefits of the CPEC projects to local people, and starting Chinese language classes is one of the several steps we will take to ensure that the people of Balochistan are the first ones to benefit,鈥� he said.
Ahmed Iqbal Baloch, a senior analyst, appreciating the initiative of Chief Minister Balochistan, said it was the basic right of the local population to get jobs first, which is for the provincial government to ensure.
鈥淭he Chinese are too attached to their language and barely 2 percent may know English or any other language. Either the Chinese will have to learn Urdu or the people of Pakistan will have to learn Chinese to communicate with the Chinese working on different projects (in Pakistan),鈥� Baloch told Arab News.
鈥淐ommunication is must. Without it, you can鈥檛 work with people speaking a language that you don鈥檛 know,鈥� Baloch argued.
He said Gwadar鈥檚 free zone spreading over 22 acres of land had mainly Chinese workers. 鈥淚f the locals are to join them, they will have to communicate, and for communication there needs to be a language which both may understand,鈥� he said.
The Chinese are also learning Urdu for better communication in carrying out the CPEC projects, he said. 鈥淓ach year Beijing University is teaching Urdu to hundreds of Chinese students.鈥� 
鈥淒uring my last visit to Beijing, I saw Chinese learning Urdu and Balochi languages,鈥� Balochistan Economic Forum鈥檚 President, Sardar Shaukat Popalzai, told Arab News.
Several teachers from Gwadar and other districts that are hosting CPEC routes have been sent to China to learn Mandarin. 鈥淥nce they are back, they will start teaching Chinese in different schools of the province,鈥� said Popalzai.
But it is not only language, Baloch said, that is essential for getting jobs in CPEC projects. 鈥淵ou must be skilled in jobs and for this a vocational training is also mandatory,鈥� he said.
China has already set up a major vocational center in Gwadar which will provide training to the local population to enable them to get jobs in CPEC projects in the city, said Popalzai.
鈥淭he Balochistan government should expand Chinese language centers and vocational programs so that the maximum number of people from this backward but highly resourceful province may be benefited,鈥� Baloch concludes.