The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced Chinese language in two Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) of the State, as part of a pilot initiative. The two JNVs are the ones at Bagalur in North taluk of Bangalore Urban district and at Doddaballapur in Bangalore Rural district.

The tutors have come all the way from China for the purpose and have been taking classes for the past couple of months. Niyu Jinyu teaches the language at JNV, Bagalur, while his wife Wei Yueling teaches Mandarin at JNV, Doddaballapur. The two schools are among 25 selected for the programme.

The tutors are enjoying their experience here. Jinyu told Deccan Herald, “I take lessons five days a week for classes 6 and 7. They are interested in learning the language. I love the food. The people are very nice and helpful.”

He was confident that the students will be able to appear for Chinese proficiency test within a year.

“These children show lot of interest in learning Chinese. This motivates me further,” he said.

B Venkateshwaran, principal of JNV, Bagalur, said he was initially sceptical. However, now he is convinced that everything will go well.

“The children have started greeting other teachers in Chinese. Jinyu has mingled well and is close to the children. The initiative is only for a year. But we have requested the higher-ups to extend it,” he said.

At the Doddaballapur school, too, authorities are hopeful that the initiative will help foster better ties between the two countries.

“The response of children has been good. What better way to learn about culture and life in China than teachers from that country teaching the language,” said principal T Gopalakrishna.

After the initial failure of CBSE to introduce Chinese in 2011, this is a revival of the plan. The CBSE has tied up with Hanban, China’s national office for teaching Chinese as foreign language. As many as 22 teachers like Jinyu and Yueling have been deputed to India.