Punjab govt to spend millions to teach Chinese, Turkish to students

LAHORE: The finance minister announced Rs700 million for Chief Minister Language Scholar Program for Chinese and Turkish Languages during the budget speech. The government has decided to spend it on teaching these languages and allocating seats of interpreters in the Home Department.

According to the proposal, four seats for Chinese interpreters and two seats for Turkish interpreters of 17 scales have been allocated in the developmental budget. These interpreters will work in the Home Department wing for Chinese security and communicate with the foreigners. Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has pressed on the importance of learning these languages keeping growing job opportunities in mind.



Earlier this year, the home department created a new wing in anticipation of its need due to the expected arrival of thousands of Chinese for CPEC projects. Chinese security has been given independent seats of Additional Secretary, Deputy Secretary and three Section Officers for the security of 11,000 Chinese working in Punjab.

Police had already established a Special Protection Unit in 2014 for the protection of foreigners in Punjab. Acting Punjab Information Secretary Raja Jahangir revealed that approximately 60,000 Chinese will be in Pakistan by mid-2018. He said that additional influx of 5,000 Chinese would be for routine CPEC projects and their aligned initiatives. “The security of these people is paramount for the Punjab government. Currently, SPU is operating with a strength of 5,000 men of which many were ex-army personnel,” he added. “Strength of SPU men would also be increased accordingly.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2017.