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LONDON - All Britain's 250 specialist language schools have been told they should put Mandarin on the curriculum as "the language of tomorrow", a senior government adviser said yesterday.
Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies, said it should be seen as the key language for future generations to learn - replacing European languages.
The trust, which represents 90 per cent of the 2950 state secondary schools in England, he said, has clinched a deal with the arm of the Chinese Government responsible for promoting cultural awareness overseas to send 200 teachers a year over to Britain to teach Mandarin in schools.
Pupil exchanges are also being arranged, he said at a meeting of the select committee on education. "It is a strategic world language. The difficulty in the past has been getting Chinese teachers."
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