Some schools in Kolkata city are already offering Chinese language as an optional subject in their curriculum, but understanding the language without understanding the culture will not be of much help. With increasing demand for learning Chinese language and culture, not only among businessmen but also young students, India's first Confucius classroom has been approved by the Chinese government, to be inaugurated in Kolkata by next year. Around 15 teachers are to be brought from China as faculty and classes are scheduled to start from middle of next year and will have an intake of around 800 students by the end of 2017.
Charisma Saraff, principal of the School of Chinese Language, said that Confucius is a way of life. Most people in China do not follow any religion, they just follow a way of life as part of their culture and they are trying to promote that. Not just the language, but the institute will also focus on the teaching of Chinese culture, literature, geography and other key aspects of life in China. For example, the most common skill lacked by Indians who are planning to work or study in China is that they do not know how to eat with chopsticks and the institute will focus on such gaps to be closed along with orientation on Chinese language and culture.
The Chinese consulate is also planning to organize an education exhibition in which the 30 leading Chinese universities are participating. One of them is the Tsinghua University, ranked among top 10 universities of the world. The two-day exhibition will end on Saturday at the Milan Mela grounds and is expected to gain a lot of interest from language lovers in the city.