Chinese teachers at NED leave country

All the Chinese teachers at the NED University have left the country due to the security concerns after the suicide attack at the University of Karachi (KU) on April 26.

On Sunday afternoon, 11 Chinese teachers of the NED University suddenly returned home. Dr Sarosh Lodi, the NED University vice chancellor, told Jang that all of a sudden at 2pm, the varsity administration was informed that the Chinese teachers had ordered a van and they were returning home.

He lamented that it was a great loss as two-and-a-half-thousand students of the varsity were learning Chinese language. He said that keeping in view that requirements of the present age, the varsity had made two levels of Chinese language compulsory day. "We are going to have a hard time now and we will have to move to online classes," he said.

Dr Nasiruddin Khan, the Pakistani director of the Confucius Institute at the KU, said the Chinese language teaching at the Confucius Institute had been suspended since the suicide bombing. He added that the KU was the first institution in the country to launch a BS programme in Chinese this year, in which 30 students were enrolled while 80 students had taken Chinese language as an optional subject.

“Now we are worried what will happen to all these students but we have to find a solution,” he said. When asked about the future of the Confucius Institute, he said the issue had to be resolved at the diplomatic and governmental level, not at the university level.

Dr Khan said the suicide attack had caused great damage to the university. He lamented that even during the announced wars, teachers and medical staff were not targeted. It may be recalled that the Confucius Institute was established at the KU in 2013 and Chinese teachers were given accommodation at the varsity to teach Chinese.

However, after the suicide attack that killed three of the Chinese teachers, the remaining Chinese teachers were transferred to the NED University under tightened security.