The Chinese language continues its long, slow march to displacing English as the lingua franca of planet Earth. Whether it achieves this status at some point in the future is very debatable of course, but little by little more countries are seeing its necessity and adding it to mandatory study for children. Pakistan is the latest country to do so. BBC has the story.
The government of the Pakistani province of Sindh has announced plans to make Chinese compulsory in schools from 2013.
All educational institutions in the province will have to provide Chinese language courses from class six (10-11-year-olds), it says.
The provincial government says that the decision was taken because of Pakistan's close ties with China.
The two countries have been strong allies for more than 50 years.
In May, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani described China as his country's "best friend".
But some critics say the plan is political, will need considerable investment in teaching staff and materials, and further stretch limited resources.
Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq said that the initiative reflected China's growing role as an economic giant in the world and would benefit Pakistan in the long term.
"Our trade, educational and other relations are growing with China everyday and now it is necessary for our younger generation to have command over their language," he said.
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