'Chinese' Out Of National Education Policy 2020's Foreign Languages List

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29 does not include Chinese among the list of foreign languages to be provided to secondary level students. The approved NEP 2020 applies only to Korean, Japanese, Thai, French, German , Spanish, Portuguese and Russian, as well as to Indian and English languages.

The strategy indicates that studying foreign languages would allow "students to learn about the cultures of the world and to improve their global awareness and mobility in line with their own desires and ambitions."

The Founder and Chief Faculty at the Yellow River Chinese Academy, Shraddha Prabhu Kumar, said that the secondary school students should be given an opportunity to learn Chinese. "The largest number of people in the world are learning Chinese. Letting students opt to keep Chinese in the syllabus will be the most practical thing to do."

She further added that China is one of the biggest players in the global economy. She said, "Chinese is an ancient language, and it shouldn't have anything to do with two countries that don't see eye to eye."

An official associated with the final NEP confirmed that he was unaware of the move, but "the reasons are evident". India has blocked more than 100 Chinese apps following a clash with China in Eastern Ladakh. Foreign-language teachers state that Chinese as a language has gained popularity in Bengaluru since 2017 and is expected to surpass many Asian languages, including Japanese.