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Chinese as a compulsory foreign language in all schools

Sweden: Education and Liberal Party leader Jan Bjorklund proposes to introduce Chinese as a foreign language in all primary schools in Sweden. 

Bjorklund believes it is necessary to strengthen the Swedish competitiveness reports the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri.

Chinese-as-a-compulsory-foreign-language-in-all-schools  
Do you agree with him? 

The explosion of interest in China and Chinese language was previously discussed in several articles here on morsmål.org: 

- Greater need for language skills in the workplace 
- England: Chinese language teaching in all schools 
- Norway (Trondheim): Chinese as a foreign language at school 

- I want Sweden to be the first country in Europe to introduce Chinese as a foreign language in all schools, said Sweden's Minister of Education Jan Bjorklund. 

Bjorklund belives that in a long-term economic perspective, the Chinese language would be more important than French or Spanish. French, Spanish and German are among the languages that are usually offered in all schools in Sweden in addition to English. 

- Not everyone in the business world speaks English. Chinese will in the future be much more important than French or Spanish from an economic standpoint, he says. 

In an interview with the Swedish Radio (SR) Bjorklund estimates that it will require substantial resources to implement the proposal, especially with regard to the recruitment of Chinese teachers, but think all Swedish schools can be ready to teach Chinese within ten to fifteen years. 

- It all boils down to teacher training colleges and other institutions expanding their programs, and if we decide to do this, it's definitely possible, said Bjorklund to SR.