Chinese language programme Rs 597.88 million not released to education, literacy department

Despite Chief Minister Sindh's approval, Finance department has not yet released Rs 597.885 million to education and literacy department for the launching of Introduction of Chinese language program, Business Recorder learnt here on Tuesday. In the first week of March 2012, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had approved the summary of "Introduction of Chinese language program" with required initial funding of Rs 597.885 million.
Sources informed that finance department has not released the said approved amount while the department has now closed all financial transitions to other administrative departments due to closing of FY 2011-12. Because of this situation created by finance department, the education and literacy department could not launch Chinese language program which was scheduled to initiate in mid of March this year.
Earlier, the PC-I of this scheme was approved by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP), a competent technical forum functioning under the Planning and Development (P&D) department, sources said. After the approval of summary by chief minister, the directorate of Planning and Development, education and literacy department had made feasibility of Chinese language program and it was ready to launch but could not be implemented due to non-releasing of required approved funds, they said.
The PC-I copy obtained by Business Recorder stated that: Execution authority of this program would be Directorate of Chinese Language Program, sources added in this regard that education department has not established even said directorate due to same reasons of non-releasing of approved funds.
China is one of the world's oldest and richest continuous cultures and most populous nation in the world, with 1.28 billion people. One fifth of the planet speaks Chinese language. It is the mother tongue of over 873 million people, making it the most widely spoken language in the world, PC-I stated.
In addition to People's Republic of China and Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is also spoken in the important and influential Chinese communities of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Mongolia. China is the second largest economy in the world. Knowing Chinese may give people an edge when competing for an important position, PC-I mentioned.
PC-I stated that study of the Chinese language open the way to different important fields such as Chinese politics, economy, history or archaeology. But to study Chinese means to study a culture. Heart of Chinese civilisation is its rich heritage of novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and, more recently, film".
In this connection, a high level official of finance department told Business Recorder with condition of keeping his name in secret that finance department had pointed out some objections in documents of Chinese program which were later discussed during the mutual meetings. Concerned officials of education and literacy department had resolved these objections but it was late as FY 2011-12, had been closed almost. So that now, these funds would be released in the end of July 2012, he added.