KATAHMANDU, Dec 7: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) is preparing to include the Chinese language in school curriculum.
“The ministry is preparing a draft to include the Chinese language in school education as an optional subject,” said Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Giriraj Mani Pokharel. “The new curriculum is being developed under the National Curriculum Framework,” he said. “It is a need of time. If we can teach English, why can’t we teach Chinese? The world is learning Chinese.”
Minister Pokharel further said that the government is also planning to introduce Hindi, Arabic and Korean, among others, as optional subjects in school education. “We are yet to think about mainstreaming the Chinese language in school education. However, we can also teach Chinese under the Technical Education and Vocational Training and also Arabic, Korean and Hindi languages as many Nepalis go to work in India, Korea and Arabian countries,” he said.
According to Pokharel, preparations for curriculum development are underway. “Some students who returned from China after learning the Chinese language recommended to us to include it in school education. Then we started working on it,” said Minister Pokharel.