ISLAMABAD, Dec 10: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a Rs35 million scheme for National University of Modern Languages (Numl), which will establish five regional campuses in major cities of the country to teach Chinese and English languages.

An official statement issued here on Friday said through the scheme, Numl had planned to open five new regional campuses in Sukkur (Sindh), Quetta (Balochistan), Peshawar (NWFP) and Okara and Faisalabad (Punjab). These campuses will initially offer Chinese and English language proficiency courses from foundation level to diploma in interpretership.

The courses will be organized in both morning and evening times to facilitate over 250 students per campus each semester. This way a total of 400 to 600 students would be admitted to each campus yearly.

The students would include both full-time scholars and part- time business oriented students, who by learning these languages would be able to communicate more effectively and meaningfully with their clients across the northern borders as well as internationally.

The language proficiency attained, especially by the youth, would not only increase the overall literacy rate but also help unemployed people to find new and better jobs.

In phase-II, these centres will provide the IT industry with enabling expertise to devise innovative software in Chinese language to help the country's industry and business quarters to expand their business base and trade volume with China.